8 Steps to Roll Out In-Cab Cameras at Your Fleet

Some business decisions are a tough call, while others are a no-brainer. In-cab cameras are one of the easy decisions. They pay for themselves the first time a driver is involved in an accident where the other vehicle was at fault and about to fight you — until the driver and the police officer at the scene see the footage. The fight ends before it starts.

The technology has come so far in 10 years. Why wouldn’t you implement a tool that can help you save money, settle claims faster and ultimately improve safety by reducing accidents? Who wouldn’t want that?

Well, sometimes drivers don’t like it. Why? Often their concerns are about privacy. But they aren’t the ones absorbing the risks associated with putting trucks on the road every day. The company is, so it’s the company’s call. 

That said, there is a right way to implement a big change like this. Here are eight steps you can take to successfully roll out in-cab cameras for your fleet.

1. Define your objectives

Like any new company-wide undertaking, start by outlining your goals. Improving your safety culture, measured by reducing accidents and the cost of loss, are the two goals. 

Coaching: Praise publicly and coach privately

Cameras allow you to turn near-miss incidents into one-on-one coaching opportunities. Show the driver the footage — the video will do the heavy lifting for you — and you ask “Why did this happen?” Catch people using the defensive driving principles of LLLC (Look Ahead, Look Around, Leave Room and Communicate) properly to avoid incidents on the road. Create a top 10 list for your safety meetings and make your drivers the star of the monthly reminder courses. 

Reduce Cost of Loss

Claims inflation is being driven by the cost of everything becoming more expensive and aggressive plaintiff attorneys driving up the cost of settlements and verdicts. Once the lawyer is involved, it’s too late. You no longer have to rely on your driver’s story vs. the other party’s story — you get the answer right away most of the time.

Stop the fight before it happens by showing the footage to the officer on the scene when the other vehicle is at fault so it’s on the police report. When you’re at fault, take care of everything for the other vehicle quickly. Spend early to save later. 

2. Choose the right technology

After outlining your objectives, it’s time to choose a vendor. In-cab camera technology has advanced so much and is changing all the time — with the newest feature being AI-enabled systems. You’ll have to consider your priorities between features like camera quality, data storage, real-time vs. post-event monitoring capabilities and integration with your existing fleet management software. 

No matter your personal preferences, keep in mind reliability and ease of use. Does the vendor offer training and support? Can you as a Safety Director use it as intended from day one? How quickly can you train new hires on how to use it?

3. Pilot the cameras

If you’re unsure about who to go with, narrow your vendor search down to two options, install each system in an equal number of trucks and run them for 30 days to compare. Use a handful of drivers that you know like being testers for you and helping fellow drivers.

During the test period, you’ll want to gather honest feedback from various departments, including safety, operations, senior drivers and maintenance.

After the pilot, select the system that worked best within your processes, make any adjustments needed and move forward with a companywide installation. A benefit of a pilot is you’re inviting people into the decision-making process, which will increase their buy-in later. For your drivers, you’ll have real footage and stories of how the cameras saved their bacon when an insane driver of another vehicle falsely accused them.

4. Market & sell the benefit to your drivers

While your job title says Safety, you’re in Marketing and Sales when it comes to rolling out new cameras to your fleet. Answer the WIIFM for everyone: What’s In It For Me?

Start with your dispatch team since they are going to hear gripes from drivers. Ask dispatchers: Do they like telling customers their load is late or on the side of the road because of an accident? Obviously, no. Tell them they’ll get a higher performing fleet of drivers.

Print out a one-pager and put it on the desk of every dispatcher, who will have it as a reference to explain the benefits when they get an angry call from a driver. That one-pager will include testimonials from fellow drivers who piloted the program, sharing how it saved their hide when a motorist blamed them for an accident. Those stories spread fast and create a general acceptance among drivers in the industry now. 

The next step is talking with the drivers either in person, on a video call or via recorded video message, depending on your company’s circumstances. Be straightforward with the plan and your reasons for adding cameras, which include keeping them safe, training them to be better drivers and protecting the company. Most importantly,  use the drivers who piloted the program as testimonials to bring a story about how it helped them. 

5. Develop clear guidelines

A simple structure we like to follow is Why, How, What, made famous by author Simon Sinek.

The Why

To make our drivers safer through more frequent and brief coaching events and protect our drivers and company from false claims by other motorists.

The How

We will use the camera systems’ AI tools to review events triggered each day to identify if there is a coaching opportunity. 

The What

The Safety Director will use his or her professional discretion for the appropriate level of coaching: video review, conversation, remedial training, suspension or termination. The Safety Director will also use professional discretion to discipline drivers for tampering with or covering up the camera. 

6. Train your team

With the right system, driver training for in-cab cameras should be minimal. Some systems have features drivers should be aware of, such as a button to press if they feel another vehicle is driving irrationally and they want to capture it on camera, knowing the automatic event triggers would record the event yet (they need some geo-force trigger and this driver is appropriately looking ahead down the road). a panic button they could press in an emergency. 

But in the ideal scenario, your drivers will forget the cameras are even there, unless you choose an option with audible alerts for situations like traveling too close or speeding. 

7. Implement feedback

Once your in-cab cameras are up and running, the next step is monitoring driver feedback and behavior. Be attentive to driver questions or concerns: You may occasionally have to troubleshoot the technology on their behalf. 

On your end, you’ll have to fine tune how much data you’d like to receive and when. There is a learning curve when it comes to determining what information is important for you and your company. 

For instance, do you want to know if drivers are smoking? Speeding? Not wearing seatbelts? Making too many lane changes? Determine what’s important and set it up to inform you about those events. At a minimum, you’ll want real-time alerts about collisions and near collisions so you can respond accordingly.  

8. Measure success

Finally, your in-cab camera rollout should include measuring success. Figuring out if cameras are a good investment isn’t rocket science. You should see your overall number of accidents and cost of loss go down. Don’t be surprised if in-cab cameras make you as a safety director look really smart.