Indiana Dash Cams: The Four-Inch Windshield Corner and the Driver-Visible Screen Ban

Nothing in Article 9-19, Indiana's motor vehicle equipment article, mentions a camera except Ind. Code § 9-19-12-1, and that section is about seeing backwards rather than about recording. As amended by P.L.156-2026, SEC.9, it now allows a vehicle constructed or loaded so as to obstruct the driver's view to the rear to satisfy the requirement with either a mirror or an appropriate, functioning rear view camera, in each case giving a view of the highway for at least 200 feet behind. That is the only place Indiana affirmatively endorses a vehicle camera, and it says nothing about where a forward-facing recorder may be mounted.

So the operative rule is the windshield rule. Ind. Code § 9-19-19-3(b) is written around nontransparent material, and a camera body, its mount and its cabling all qualify. The test the statute applies is functional rather than positional: the material must not obstruct the driver's clear view of the highway or an intersecting highway. The intersecting highway phrase matters for placement, because a unit tucked high against the roof line near the A pillar can be clear of the road ahead and still cut into the sight line towards a cross street. The statute then supplies one bright line safe harbour, and it is small: signs, posters or other nontransparent material not larger than four inches square may be placed on the front windshield, side wings, or side or rear windows, but only in the lower corner farthest removed from the driver. For a left hand drive car that is the lower passenger side corner. Subsection (a) shows the narrowness of the section by contrast, since the only categorical exemption Indiana grants is for a decal required by the United States Department of Defense on a military vehicle or on a vehicle owned by, employed by, or authorised by the armed forces.

The screen is a separate offence. Ind. Code § 9-19-17-1 prohibits owning a motor vehicle, or operating one upon a highway, that has a television set installed so that the screen can be seen by a person sitting in the driver's seat. Chapter 17 contains only that section and its penalty section, and Indiana has never narrowed the phrase television set to broadcast receivers, so a dash camera with a live viewfinder facing the cabin is the natural target. The practical answer is to mount the camera with the display turned away from the driver, or to use a model whose screen sleeps during driving. Note that the section reaches ownership as well as operation, which is unusual: the offence is complete on installation, not on use.

Indiana's hands free law does not touch a dash camera. Ind. Code § 9-21-8-59(a) prohibits holding or using a telecommunications device while operating a moving motor vehicle, and Ind. Code § 9-13-2-177.3(a) defines that term for Article 9-21 as a wireless telephone, personal digital assistant, pager or text messaging device intended for handheld use, or a wearable device that blocks, in whole or in part, the field of vision of the person wearing it. A fixed camera is none of those. Ind. Code § 9-21-8-59(d) is also worth knowing if a recording ever becomes an issue at the roadside: a police officer may not confiscate a telecommunications device to check compliance, or download information from one, absent probable cause that it was used in a crime, a valid search warrant, or other legal authority.

Audio is governed elsewhere and is permissive for the driver. Ind. Code § 35-31.5-2-176 defines interception, for the purposes of Indiana's wiretap article at Ind. Code § 35-33.5, as the intentional recording or acquisition of the contents of an electronic communication by a person other than a sender or receiver of that communication, without the consent of the sender or receiver. Both limbs matter: the definition reaches electronic communications rather than face to face speech, and it excludes a person who is himself a party to the communication.

Both rules are Class C infractions. A windshield obstruction under Ind. Code § 9-19-19-3 is punished by Ind. Code § 9-19-19-7(b), and a driver-visible screen under Ind. Code § 9-19-17-1 by Ind. Code § 9-19-17-2. Each carries a judgment of up to $500 under Ind. Code § 34-28-5-4(c). Ind. Code § 9-19-1-4 makes operating a noncomplying vehicle the driver's violation and Ind. Code § 9-19-1-5 makes causing or knowingly permitting it the owner's, so a fleet operator who fits the cameras is exposed alongside the driver.

The television section is broader still, since Ind. Code § 9-19-17-1(1) reaches a person who merely owns a motor vehicle so equipped. Chapter 19 does not apply to a vehicle equipped as required under United States Department of Transportation regulations, per Ind. Code § 9-19-19-7(a). Indiana runs no periodic passenger vehicle safety inspection, so neither rule is checked on a schedule; both surface at a traffic stop, where an obstruction citation is usually written alongside the stop's original reason.