"Ticker" box/RoadSafety-Do you have them?

[mikeN]

88 mph? I guess you won't be going back to 1955 anytime soon.

 

[daedalus]

I can comment on the drive cam system. We have them and use them extensively. They serve no purpose but to harass the EMTs at our company. They were billed as a good thing, to protect us in the event of an accident. In reality, they are used as a surveillance camera. At least one EMT is let go every two weeks because of these devices. My partner was fired three weeks ago for having the music loud and it was caught on the drive cam.

They are small black devices that are attached to the upper windshield and have a camera pointing outside the rig towards the road and a camera facing inside of the rig towards us. They also record sound. The device is always on and is always recording to a cache, but only 30 seconds of data is saved at a time. For example, say you make a hard stop to avoid a yellow light. The drive cam is activated from the G-force and saves data from thirty seconds prior to the event and thirty seconds after the event.

They are constantly going off everytime we hit a pot hole or rail road tracks and conversations between you and your partner are recorded and used to write you up.

 

[Arkymedic]

The surveillance aspect pretty much was what I was thought they would be used for, especially in my area and with some of the services I use to work for.

I can comment on the drive cam system. We have them and use them extensively. They serve no purpose but to harass the EMTs at our company. They were billed as a good thing, to protect us in the event of an accident. In reality, they are used as a surveillance camera. At least one EMT is let go every two weeks because of these devices. My partner was fired three weeks ago for having the music loud and it was caught on the drive cam.

They are small black devices that are attached to the upper windshield and have a camera pointing outside the rig towards the road and a camera facing inside of the rig towards us. They also record sound. The device is always on and is always recording to a cache, but only 30 seconds of data is saved at a time. For example, say you make a hard stop to avoid a yellow light. The drive cam is activated from the G-force and saves data from thirty seconds prior to the event and thirty seconds after the event.

They are constantly going off everytime we hit a pot hole or rail road tracks and conversations between you and your partner are recorded and used to write you up.

 

[Outbac1]

We have the RSI in all our vehicles. The speed is set to 120kph (74mph), max. You can ride the growl fairly aggressively if you want and not get a tone. We are graded each month on our kms/tone. It's not hard to get a good score. The company will use it against you if they get a complaint and the box shows you were driving without due care. It can also be used for you eg: in the event of an accident. It can show that you weren't speeding or that you did use your signal lights etc. Overall I think it is a good thing as it has slowed down a lot of drivers.

 

[karaya]

At least one EMT is let go every two weeks because of these devices. My partner was fired three weeks ago for having the music loud and it was caught on the drive cam.

Sounds like they hire EMT's who cannot follow and comply with company polices?

Surveillance cameras are no different in an employer's vehicle than what you see in stores, factories, offices, etc. Which in the latter examples have been around for decades.

If the medic was playing music too loud while operating the ambulance then maybe that was the third strike for him. Playing music loud in an ambulance is not only unsafe, but clearly unprofessional.

 

[daedalus]

Actually the cameras are a bit different than those installed in a work place. There is a single camera for every set of partners, always trained on them specifically. This is slightly different from fixed location cameras watching over geographic locations in the workplace. Second, they are designed to pick up actual conversation, which is within their rights perhaps but micromanagement of partner's inter-communication might be over the top.

Just my 2 cents opinion.

 

[marineman]

As I eluded to earlier that little red button is very easy to bump while cleaning the inside of the windshield. If you get too aggressive cleaning it is possible to bump the button enough times to purge old records out of the memory.

Seems like your companies are a little more distrustful than mine but we don't have any problems with those videos being used against people, even if they're talking crap about the boss when it gets set off. If you follow the rules you shouldn't have anything to worry about anyway.

 

[tydek07]

Yah, we have the "Road Safe". It records everything we do, and then when we pull into the main station (post) it transmits the data to a computer wirelessly. We have to "key in" everytime we turn the truck on, or switch drivers. It ticks at us for just about everything, very fun...

The BIG things the sups. watch for are "high tones". Those happen when the G-forces are exceeded WAY past comfort and safety. They also watch over-speeds. We start getting ticked at @ 80mph. So yah, when we take interstate (speed limit of 75mph) out far into the county.... its just easier to shut down until we get off interstate, then light up again. Its kind of interesting having grandmas passing you in their '65 oldsmobile while your going emergent

Do I like it? It gets annoying at times... but its all for the better. I am sure it also helps greatly with insurence costs

EDIT:
I should add, that when we had one of our trucks rolled over last fall due to ice, the RoadSafe helped a lot during the investagation. It was on the side of the driver that time... they found that there was nothing more he could have done to avoid it happening. But I was really suprised to see how much data they can get off that device. It puts the final pieces of the puzzle in place during times like that.

 

[daedalus]

As I eluded to earlier that little red button is very easy to bump while cleaning the inside of the windshield. If you get too aggressive cleaning it is possible to bump the button enough times to purge old records out of the memory.

Seems like your companies are a little more distrustful than mine but we don't have any problems with those videos being used against people, even if they're talking crap about the boss when it gets set off. If you follow the rules you shouldn't have anything to worry about anyway.

The new devices hold 60 recordings, and are tamper proof. The recorded events from g force activations (accidents, bumps, hard turns, etc) take priority over the panic button recordings. Even if you "accidently" pushed the button 60 times, the device will purge the panic button events before it purges the real activations.

Plus, using the panic button in a non-emergency event is a terminable offense at my company. You cannot get around these buggers :glare:

 

[rmellish]

Sounds like they hire EMT's who cannot follow and comply with company polices?

Surveillance cameras are no different in an employer's vehicle than what you see in stores, factories, offices, etc. Which in the latter examples have been around for decades.

If the medic was playing music too loud while operating the ambulance then maybe that was the third strike for him. Playing music loud in an ambulance is not only unsafe, but clearly unprofessional.

Sounds more like a management problem, from my armchair.

The drivecam can be a great tool, but if you use it big brother style, specifically for its surveillance aspects, then you're treading into a management style which seems to plague ems.