A dash cam can be an important tool to keep you and your vehicle safe and secure. They can help track down drivers who flee after hitting your car and provide evidence of your side of the story in a car accident.
Using a dash camera to record traffic and to record your drive is legal everywhere in the world. Its considered surveillance, which is the recording by a participant in the activity, typically by way of small wearable or portable personal camera technologies.
A dashcam is not a fixed camera, they don’t fall into the same legislation. Is a dash cam legal to use if installed correctly on a car windscreen or dash? You don’t need any special permission to use a dash camera. Your dash cam mustn’t in any way obstruct your field of vision.
If more than one person uses the car, they all should be aware of the dash camera installed.
A dashcam installed in private hire cars can be a breach of privacy if the sound recording is enabled. Passengers should be notified of the recording equipment. In some cases, the dashcam is only recording audio with the audio recording capability of the device. That means you have to get the consent of the passenger. The best way to avoid this is by turning it off or deactivating the audio recording functionality of the dashcam. In other words, because you are in public you should have no expectation of privacy.
Purposefully aiming your dash camera at a private residence to film people would be also considered an illegal invasion of privacy.
Is a dash cam legal if it’s mounted incorrectly? Mounting a dash camera isn’t like setting up a hands-free holder for your smartphone or GPS device. You absolutely cannot do this when installing a dash camera. It’s illegal for a driver to block their windshield with viewing obstacles. It must be fitted behind the rear-view mirror so as to not obstruct your line of sight. This ensures it will capture both lanes of the road ahead, along with the signage on either side.
For instance, a dash camera should not obscure more than 5 square inches of the windscreen view from the driver’s side and about 7 square inches on the front passenger side. In conclusion, if you install a large dash cam that obscures your view by more than 5 square inches or obscures the view of the passenger by 7 square inches, it is more than likely you’d be fined for this. Look at the dashcam laws in your own country or state to gain insight about installation.
Footage can be handed over to the Police or insurance companies for the benefit of providing evidence. Police can request your footage and use it against you if it’s found that you were at fault. Police can seize your recording equipment if they believe there’s a strong chance the evidence may be tampered with or removed after requesting by police.
Dash cameras can provide valuable information in a court case or to the police. You’ll often see dash camera footage on local news websites as communities use it to work on tracking down law-breakers. Police have also begun using dash camera footage from their own vehicles.
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