Kudos to our colleagues at Martin Transportation Services. Our industry is an incredibly safe industry. But despite that statistical truth the perception is that we are dangerous. The best way to fight perceptions is with facts.
In this article by Sean Kilcarr, we get to see some of the benefits that MTS has realized by installing in & outward-facing cameras in all their vehicles. Jeff Wood, MTS’ director of safety, tells a story about how one driver was involved in a collision where it was clearly the other party’s fault yet the at-fault automobile driver blamed the truck driver. The cameras provided video evidence to exonerate the MTS driver.
“We had an intersection collision case where my guy is trying to turn left. He had to ‘creep out’ into the intersection, because there wasn’t a [dedicated] left-hand turn signal,” he said.
“As the light changes and he pulls through, a driver coming in the opposite direction pulls around a stopped car, goes through the red light, and hits our truck,” Wood noted. “When the police arrive, the driver of the car said he had a green light and that the truck turned into his path. But we just shared the video with the police … and no other witness was necessary. That saved us potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims, with the added benefit of getting us money back for our equipment damage.”
Wood also admitted to Kilcarr that the video would show when his drivers were in the wrong, but Wood pointed out that even that allowed them to settle issues more quickly and thus save money on that front.
I want to make the point, people, that I am proud to be a part of this industry and I think the vast majority of people in this industry deserve accolades rather condemnation. I highly encourage all companies; from one-man owner-ops to big companies like MTS to invest in dash cams. Let’s fight the negative perceptions and show the public how safe we are and how necessary we are to the economy.
Thanks for reading.