Truck cameras have become so important to fleet safety that trucking insurance expert Sam Tucker believes the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be mandating their use.
“I hate to look into my crystal ball and think that's the case but I really do. I honestly do,” Tucker, CEO of Carrier Risk Solution, said during Truckload Carriers Association’s webinar on improving carrier standing with insurers, April 15.
Mandate or not, more fleets are leaning on event recorders, Tucker said, especially at a time when costly crash verdicts are dragging carriers into news headlines.
“It's the next big wave,” Tuckers said of truck-mounted cameras. “Even a lot of owner-operators who may not have the ability to have full bore systems in their trucks are going to Amazon and grabbing up a $35 dash cam because they understand the power behind it. I think it's really, from a grassroots perspective, building up.”
[Related: Driver-facing cameras headed down a path of least resistance]
Stewart Transport, a reefer and custom freight hauler based in Phoenix, Ariz., is no stranger to safety. The 25-year-old carrier, which covers the lower 48 states, was recognized as the safest fleet by the Arizona Trucking Association in 2015.
