Fleet-based Driver Monitoring Systems: Accelerating Commercial Motor Vehicle and Occupational Driver Acceptance of Driver-facing Cameras

Driver monitoring systems (DMSs) are an in-vehicle technology with promise to improve transportation safety for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) and occupational light vehicle drivers. DMSs include various sensors and cameras placed inside and outside a vehicle to record the surrounding environment and, in some cases, what the driver is doing behind the wheel. Many newer DMSs incorporate machine vision and artificial intelligence to detect environmental and behavioral factors in real-time, which may allow drivers to receive in-cab alerts associated with inattention and other driver errors found to be significant contributors to crashes. However, previous research has found that drivers are resistant to the use of driver-facing cameras. The purpose of this project was to discuss driver-facing cameras with CMV and occupational light vehicle drivers to identify their concerns and recommendations. Researchers conducted four focus groups with up to nine drivers per focus group. A total of 24 drivers participated across the four focus groups. The focus groups concentrated on three key concerns related to driver-facing cameras: driver privacy, micromanagement, and a lack of perceived safety improvements associated with driver-facing cameras. Although drivers often expressed resistance to driver-facing cameras, they did provide 12 recommendations that they believed would significantly reduce resistance: involve drivers early in the process of DMS implementation; establish a driver advisory group; use DMS data for performance recognition; use DMS data for safety competitions; be honest about the capabilities and functionality of driver-facing cameras; follow the data use policy; use a third party to review DMS data; ensure drivers understand what behaviors flag an event; ensure drivers know when an event was detected; give drivers leeway to correct behavior before management is notified; use data to show how DMSs improve safety; and limit audio recording.