Illinois Dash Cam Rules: No Mounting Zones, a No-Stop Clause, and Felony Audio Risk

Illinois recognises the device by name. Section 1-218.10 of the Vehicle Code, added by Public Act 99-689 effective January 1, 2017, defines a video event recorder as a video recorder placed inside a vehicle that continuously records, in a digital loop, audio, video, and G-force levels. That is a dash cam. Having defined it, the General Assembly wrote no mounting rule, no permitted-square-inches allowance and no prohibition. What governs instead is the general obstruction rule.

Subsection 12-503(c-5) was written to cover the front glass and reaches objects placed or suspended between the driver and the front windshield which materially obstruct the driver's view. Subsection (c) covers the same conduct as to the rear window, side wings and the side windows immediately adjacent to each side of the driver. Both turn on material obstruction, so a compact camera tucked behind the rear-view mirror or low in a corner is a different case from a large screen unit hung in the sight line. Separately, 12-503(a) prohibits applying a sign, poster, window application, reflective material, nonreflective material or tinted film to the front windshield outside the top 6 inches, which is why an adhesive-pad mount on the middle of the glass invites a harder argument than a bracket clipped to the mirror stalk.

The enforcement clause is the part worth knowing. The second sentence of (c-5) provides that no motor vehicle, and no driver or passenger of one, shall be stopped or searched by any law enforcement officer solely on the basis of a violation or suspected violation of that subsection. Illinois wrote the same protection into 625 ILCS 5/12-613(e) for radar jammers and 12-714(d) for detectors in commercial vehicles, but deliberately did not write it into the tint subsections of the very same section. A camera on the glass is therefore not, by itself, a lawful reason to pull a car over in Illinois.

The screen is regulated separately and more strictly than the camera. Section 12-604.1(a) prohibits operating a motor vehicle when a television receiver, video monitor, television or video screen or similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal producing entertainment or business applications is operating and located forward of the back of the driver's seat, or operating and visible to the driver while driving. Subsection (b) then exempts a vehicle information display, a global positioning display, a mapping or navigation display, a visual display used to enhance or supplement the driver's view forward, behind or to the sides for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle, equipment used exclusively for safety or traffic engineering studies, and equipment fitted with an interlock that disables everything but those uses while the vehicle is driven. Subsection (d) permits a permanently installed screen whose moving entertainment images are not visible to the driver in motion. The practical instruction is to run the camera with its display asleep rather than showing a live preview to the driver.

One narrow carve-out shows the drafters had dash cams in view. Subsection 12-604.1(d-5) provides that the section does not apply to a video event recorder, as defined in Section 1-218.10, installed in a contract carrier vehicle. Section 12-604.3 attaches a duty to that same class of operator: a contract carrier vehicle carrying passengers and equipped with a video event recorder must post a notice in a visible location stating that a passenger's conversation may be recorded, and any data the recorder captures is the sole property of the registered owner or lessee of the vehicle. Rideshare and livery drivers in Illinois should read those two subsections together.

Audio is where Illinois diverges sharply from most states. Under 720 ILCS 5/14-2(a)(2) a person commits eavesdropping who knowingly and intentionally uses an eavesdropping device, in a surreptitious manner, to record all or any part of a private conversation to which he or she is a party, unless every other party consents. Section 14-1(d) defines a private conversation as an oral communication one or more parties intended to be private under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation, and 14-1(g) defines surreptitious as obtained by stealth or deception, or executed through secrecy or concealment. Both elements have to be met, which is why a visible camera and a spoken heads-up matter so much in practice, and why 12-604.3 makes the posted notice mandatory for paying passengers. Traffic on a public street heard through an open window is a poor fit for the private conversation definition; a passenger's conversation inside a closed car is a much better one.

One further obstruction rule can catch a cluttered dashboard. Section 11-1406(a) makes it unlawful to drive a vehicle so loaded, or with more than three persons in the front seat, as to obstruct the driver's view to the front or sides or to interfere with control over the driving mechanism, and 11-1406(b) puts the same duty on passengers.

The windshield-obstruction subsections are not listed in 625 ILCS 5/12-503(j), which sets the $50 to $500 petty offense scale for the tint and installer subsections, so a violation of (c) or (c-5) falls under the Vehicle Code's default penalty in 625 ILCS 5/16-104: a first or second conviction is a petty offense, and a third or subsequent conviction within one year of the first is a Class C misdemeanor. 5-75(a). Because (c-5) forbids a stop or search made solely on suspicion of that subsection, a citation normally comes out of a stop already justified on other grounds or out of a crash investigation.

1 is a petty offense fined not more than $100 for a first offense, not more than $200 for a second within one year of a previous conviction, and not more than $250 for a third or subsequent within one year of two previous convictions; where the violation was a proximate cause of a crash causing great bodily harm, permanent disability or disfigurement it becomes aggravated use of a video device, a Class A misdemeanor, and a Class 4 felony where it caused a death.

Eavesdropping is the most serious exposure of all: a first offense is a Class 4 felony and a second or subsequent offense a Class 3 felony under 720 ILCS 5/14-4(a), rising to a Class 3 felony on a first offense where the recorded person was a law enforcement officer, State's Attorney, Attorney General or judge performing official duties.