Arizona Dash Cam Mounting and Recording Rules

Two Arizona statutes govern a dash cam, and they answer different halves of the question. Section 28-963 controls what the device may do while the car is moving. Subsection A applies while a person is driving and the vehicle is in motion on a public roadway or on an off-highway vehicle trail as defined in section 28-1171. Paragraph A.1 bars viewing a broadcast television image or a visual image from an image display device unless the image is a static background or imagery supporting mapping services. Paragraph A.2 bars watching a video or movie on a portable wireless communication device or stand-alone electronic device. Paragraph A.3 bars recording or broadcasting a video on those devices, and then adds the exception that makes dash cams lawful: the person may use the devices for the sole purpose of continuously recording or broadcasting video within or outside of the motor vehicle. The words to notice are sole purpose and continuously. A camera that runs a continuous loop from the moment the engine starts is inside the exception. Picking up a phone mid-drive to shoot a clip of something you passed is not.

Subsection C then lists six categories the section does not touch at all, and a dash cam lands in two of them. Paragraph C.2(c) exempts image display devices that enhance or supplement a driver's view of the area to the front, rear or side of the vehicle, which covers a rear camera feed or a camera monitor system. Paragraph C.4 exempts portable image display devices that are not used to display dynamic visual images other than for navigation or global positioning while the vehicle is in motion, so a dash cam with its live preview switched off is outside the section. Paragraph C.6 removes any use of an image display device while the vehicle is parked. The limit that survives is subsection B, which bars operating a motor vehicle with an image display device visible to a driver seated in a normal driving position while the vehicle is in motion. A dash cam whose screen faces the driver and plays a live picture is the configuration to avoid; turning the display off, or letting the unit blank its screen after a few seconds, resolves it.

The mount is governed by section 28-959.01, the windshield and window materials statute. Subsection B is the general prohibition: no object or material placed, installed, affixed or applied on the windshield or the side or rear windows, or anywhere in the vehicle, in a manner that obstructs or reduces a driver's clear view. The statute then names twelve exceptions, and paragraph A.12 is the one written for cameras. It exempts safety monitoring equipment and driver feedback mounted either immediately behind, slightly above or slightly below the rearview mirror, or where the rearview mirror would commonly be positioned if the vehicle has no windshield mounted mirror. That is the compliant zone: high and centered, in the mirror's shadow. A suction mount stuck low in the middle of the windshield or out toward the A pillar has no exception to sit in, because paragraph A.5 allows only signs, stickers and other materials in a seven inch square in the lower corner farthest from the driver and a five inch square in the lower corner nearest the driver. Section 28-893 adds a separate rule aimed at cargo and people rather than hardware: a driver may not drive when the vehicle's load or passengers obstruct the view to the front or sides or interfere with control of the driving mechanism.

Using a phone as the dash cam brings a third statute into play. Section 28-914(A)(1) prohibits physically holding or supporting with any part of the body a portable wireless communication device or a stand-alone electronic device while operating a motor vehicle on a street or highway, unless the vehicle is parked or stopped as described in section 28-645(A)(3) or section 28-851. A phone recording from a cradle is fine; a phone wedged against the dashboard on your leg is not, and neither is reaching over to start or stop the recording by hand mid-drive. Subsection B preserves any device operated without the use of either of the driver's hands except to activate or deactivate a function.

Audio is a fourth question and Arizona answers it favorably for drivers. Under A.R.S. section 13-3005(A)(2) a person commits a class 5 felony by intentionally intercepting a conversation or discussion at which he is not present without the consent of a party to it. A driver who is in the car is present, so a dash cam capturing cabin audio during a conversation the driver takes part in, or capturing a roadside exchange the driver is having with an officer, does not run into that paragraph. Leaving the camera recording cabin audio while you are out of the vehicle is the situation the paragraph was written for.

Sections 28-963 and 28-959.01 both sit in Title 28, chapter 3, so A.R.S. section 28-121(B) makes a breach of either a civil traffic violation rather than a criminal offense, and section 28-1598 caps the civil penalty at two hundred fifty dollars plus the surcharges the court must levy under sections 12-116.01 and 12-116.02. Section 28-1526 lets the Motor Vehicle Division assess points for only one violation where several arise from the same course of conduct.

A badly placed mount is usually dealt with as an equipment defect. Section 28-982 lets any peace officer require a driver to stop and submit the vehicle for inspection on reasonable cause to believe it is not equipped as required by law, and where something is wrong the officer issues a written notice that must state the particulars and that a certificate of correction or adjustment of illegal or faulty equipment is due within five days. Moving the camera up beside the mirror answers the notice.

The phone rules carry their own scale. Section 28-914(D) sets a civil penalty of at least seventy-five dollars and not more than one hundred forty-nine dollars for a first violation, and at least one hundred fifty dollars and not more than two hundred fifty dollars for a second or subsequent violation. Section 28-914(F)(1) bars an officer who stops a driver for a suspected violation of that section from taking possession of or inspecting the device unless otherwise authorized by law, which matters if the footage is what the officer is curious about. Section 28-914(H) declares the regulation of portable wireless communication devices while driving to be of statewide concern and voids any county, city or town regulation of them adopted before or after January 1, 2021.