Could You Be Found Negligent for Not Managing Your Camera Data?

ICSA’s safety consultants get many calls every week from members asking us to send them video of incidents or crashes involving their drivers. Yet the SmartDrive Program belongs to you – the member. You own the data and you can, and should, access it yourself. In fact, because they belong to you, ICSA can’t send or use any of your videos without your permission. 

Yet fewer than 10% of ICSA members with SmartDrive cameras, or event recorders, have EVER logged into their own accounts and viewed video and reports. Members who haven’t logged into the site are missing out on valuable data that could help them prevent crashes before they happen. Such data includes factors such as those listed in the article below about five driving behaviors that predict future crashes. 

In just the past week, SmartDrive reviewed 40,498 events recorded by cameras mounted in just over 7000 ICSA-member trucks. SmartDrive assigns a severity level to each such event, with Severity 3 and Severity 4 flagged for review by an ICSA Safety Consultant. Of the 40,498 events, 3,791 were severity 3 or 4, leading ICSA to reach out to the carrier to alert them to these serious incidents. If you receive a message from an ICSA safety consultant, please return the call as soon as possible – they are reaching out to help you deal with potentially serious issues!

As your consultants, we are on your side. We aren’t trying to run your business for you but would like to help you protect your business. To do this you must dig down to the root cause of what happened with each severe event and ensure that the driver understands what he or she should have done and what to do in the future to avoid another similar event. Multiple owners who have failed to follow up on serious safety alerts have been found negligent in lawsuits. Use the videos to help your driver fight complacency and improve driving habits.  

The most valuable thing about an event recorder is as a tool to help change driver behavior. Event recorders help make a good driver even better by identifying the complacencies developed after miles and miles of safe driving. If you are a professional driver, then you already know this. It’s easy to get comfortable with a two-second following distance even though we know that it takes 1.5 seconds to visually identify a risk and then begin to take action to slow down. That does not include the time it takes the air system and brake mechanisms to react and begin to slow the truck down. Helping coach a driver to understand that nothing positive comes from following too closely just makes good business sense. It can also reduce the chances of a crash.  

ICSA’s expectations of members utilizing the SmartDrive Program are to:

1. Keep SmartRecorder Equipment functional and healthy 
2. Maintain a Safety Score under 50. Our Safety Consultants can help you here!
3. Notify ICSA/SafeCarriers within 14 days of identifying a hardware issue and then work with Iron Maintenance to make repairs.

I encourage each of you to go through the SmartDrive Video training. Log in and become familiar with the program and your data. Once you are familiar with the basics, feel free to reach out to your regional safety consultant for more help and advice in using this program. This is the main focus of our Safety Consultants who have decades of experience and love to discuss ways to coach drivers. 

West Coast Safety Consultant: Dennis Phillips Dennis.Phillips@safecarriers.org

Central States Safety Consultant: Lonnie Burkhalter Lonnie.Burkhalter@safecarriers.org

NE Safety Consultant: Rafael Valentin Rafael.Valentin@safecarriers.org

SE Safety Consultant: TBA but any of us can help including myself at Mike.Hitchcock@safecarriers.org

Mike Hitchcock

Mike has an extensive, life-long background as a driver, a mechanic, and an independent owner/operator. Before joining ICSA, he spent 23 years at Knight Transportation, where Mike was promoted to Regional Safety Director, and ultimately to Corporate Director of Safety for all Knight companies. In 2008, Mike moved to Phoenix as Knight’s Director of Recruiting and Driver Development, where he enjoyed being part of Knight’s growth and steadily improving safety performance. Mike's position as Safety Consultant at ICSA enables him to continue working to improve highway safety. Mike understands the trucking business from both a driver’s and a fleet’s perspective. He has experienced the challenges independent carriers face as they juggle profitability while minimizing the risks of accidents or legal challenges. Have operational or safety questions? Mike Hitchcock is your go-to.