Georgia Expressly Allows a Windshield Dash Cam Mount

Before 2021 Georgia had only the flat prohibition in the first half of O.C.G.A. section 40-8-73(a): no sign, poster or other nontransparent material on the front windshield, side windows or rear windows that obstructs the driver clear view of the highway or any intersecting highway. House Bill 165 (Ga. L. 2021, p. 346, section 1) added the proviso that now governs dash cams and phone cradles alike. It permits a mount for the support of a wireless telecommunications device or stand-alone electronic device, as those terms are defined in Code Section 40-6-241, on the front windshield, so long as the mount is located in a manner which minimizes obstruction of the driver view. There is no inch measurement, no named zone and no size cap in the statute, so the operative standard is placement that minimizes obstruction, judged by the officer at the roadside and then by the court.

A dash camera falls inside the permitted class because of how Code Section 40-6-241 defines its terms. Subsection (a)(1) defines a stand-alone electronic device as a device other than a wireless telecommunications device which stores audio or video data files to be retrieved on demand by a user, which is a plain description of a recording camera with a memory card. Subsection (a)(3) defines a wireless telecommunications device to cover a cellular telephone, portable telephone, text-messaging device, personal digital assistant, stand-alone computer, global positioning system receiver or substantially similar portable wireless device, while excluding a radio, citizens band radio, commercial two-way radio, subscription based emergency communication device, prescribed medical device, amateur radio device, and any in-vehicle security, navigation or remote diagnostics system. Either way the windshield mount is covered by section 40-8-73(a).

The Hands-Free Georgia Act is where drivers usually expect trouble, and it is written to avoid catching dash cams. Code Section 40-6-241(c)(3) bars watching a video while driving, and (c)(4) bars recording or broadcasting a video on a wireless telecommunications device or stand-alone electronic device, but (c)(4) closes with an express carve-out: the prohibition shall not apply to electronic devices used for the sole purpose of continuously recording or broadcasting video within or outside of the motor vehicle. A dash camera that simply runs is therefore outside the offence. What the Act still forbids is handling it. Paragraph (c)(1) makes it unlawful to physically hold or support a wireless telecommunications device or stand-alone electronic device with any part of the body while the vehicle is moving, so trimming a clip, changing a setting or repositioning the camera by hand at a red light is the violation, not the recording. Subsection (g)(4) removes the prohibition entirely while the vehicle is lawfully parked.

Two other pieces of Georgia equipment law shape where the camera can physically go. First, the tint statute governs the glass around it: O.C.G.A. section 40-8-73.1(b)(1) forbids any material and glazing on the front windshield that reduces light transmission, and subsection (c)(4) allows only a transparent item that is not red or amber in the uppermost six inches, so the popular practice of tucking the camera high and behind the mirror runs into a rule about tint film rather than about cameras. Second, section 40-8-73(e) makes it unlawful to operate a vehicle with a windshield or rear window carrying a starburst or spider webbing effect greater than three inches by three inches, which matters when a suction mount is pressed onto glass that already has a chip. Subsection (b) and (c) of the same section require a working wiper device controlled by the driver and wipers kept in good working order, and subsection (d) forbids substituting cardboard, plastic or taped glass for a window.

Commercial drivers get the narrower version of the rule. The 2021 proviso opens with the qualifier that it applies except as prohibited by federal law, rules or regulations in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle, so a Georgia truck or bus driver is left with the federal windshield placement rules rather than the state permission. Code Section 40-6-241(d) adds two commercial-only prohibitions that a dash cam user should note: no using more than a single button on a wireless telecommunications device to start or end a voice call, and no reaching for a wireless telecommunications device or stand-alone electronic device in a way that takes the driver out of the seated driving position or out of the safety belt.

There is no separate penalty for a badly placed mount. section 40-8-73, and Georgia has no periodic safety inspection to catch it, so the charge arises from a roadside stop. Touching the camera while driving is charged under the Hands-Free Georgia Act, which carries its own graduated schedule in Code Section 40-6-241(f): a fine of not more than 50 dollars for a first conviction, not more than 100 dollars for a second within a 24 month period, and not more than 150 dollars for a third or subsequent conviction in that window, with the statute expressly barring the usual court costs, add-on penalties, fees and surcharges.

Each violation is a separate offense under subsection (e). Subsection (f)(2) gives a first-time defendant a full escape: a person appearing on a first charge under paragraph (c)(1) who produces in court a device, or proof of purchase of a device, that would let them comply in future shall not be guilty of the offense, and the court makes the person affirm that the privilege has not been used before. The exceptions in subsection (g) also cover reporting a traffic accident, medical emergency, fire, a criminal or delinquent act, or a road condition causing an immediate and serious hazard.