Nebraska Dash Cam Mounting: Secondary-Enforcement Obstruction Rule

The operative text of section 60-6,256(1) makes it unlawful to operate a motor vehicle with any object placed or hung in or upon the motor vehicle, except required or permitted equipment of the motor vehicle, in such a manner as to significantly and materially obstruct or interfere with the view of the operator through the windshield, or to prevent the operator from having a clear and full view of the road and condition of traffic behind the vehicle. The threshold has two adverbs in it, significantly and materially, and both have to be met. A compact camera body tucked high behind the rear-view mirror is not the sort of thing that clears that bar, while a large unit set low in the sweep of the wiper on the driver's side plainly could be.

The negative is provable rather than assumed, because the section states its own list of things that are exempt and the list is short. Section 60-6,256(1) exempts required or permitted equipment of the motor vehicle, and it then says that any sticker or identification authorized or required by the federal government or any agency of it, or by the State of Nebraska or any political subdivision, may be placed upon the windshield without violating the section. A dash cam is neither a sticker nor an identification, and nothing in Chapter 60 requires or permits a camera as motor vehicle equipment, so a camera never reaches either exemption and the whole question is the obstruction test. That is different from the way most states write this rule, which is to publish a closed list of permitted windshield items and leave anything unlisted prohibited outright.

Section 60-6,255(2) is the companion provision and it is stricter in wording. It makes it unlawful to drive with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, side wing vents or side or rear windows, other than a certificate or other paper required to be so displayed by law. Its one allowance is for a visor or other shade device that is easily moved aside or removable, that a driver normally uses during daylight hours, and that does not impair the driver's field of vision. A camera and its suction mount are opaque, so a driver relying on a windshield position should keep the unit as small and as high as practical; nothing in section 60-6,255 authorizes an accessory placed for a purpose other than shading.

Dashboard and vent placement avoids both sections entirely, since neither reaches an object resting on the dash that does not obstruct the view. A separate section, 60-6,179, bans driving 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 bars a passenger from riding in a position that interferes with the driver's view ahead or to the sides. That section reaches people and cargo, not mounted accessories.

Nebraska's mobile device statutes do not reach a record-only camera either. Section 60-6,179.01 governs the use of a handheld wireless communication device, and section 60-6,179.02 governs texting while driving and the use of a handheld mobile telephone by operators of commercial motor vehicles, vehicles carrying nine to fifteen passengers, and school buses. Both are aimed at communication devices in the hand, not at a fixed camera that records without driver interaction. Their point cost is far higher than the mount rule: three points each under section 60-4,182(13) and (14), against one point for an obstruction under subdivision (15).

A violation of section 60-6,256 is a traffic infraction rather than a misdemeanor. Section 60-6,256(3) fixes the fine at fifty dollars for the first offense, one hundred dollars for a second and one hundred fifty dollars for a third and subsequent offense, and requires that points be assessed under section 60-4,182. Section 60-4,182(15) makes unlawful obstruction or interference of the view of an operator a one-point violation, and section 60-4,183 revokes the operator's license summarily and requires a four-hour driver improvement course once twelve points accumulate inside two years.

The single most useful protection sits in section 60-6,256(2): enforcement by state or local law enforcement agencies may be accomplished only as a secondary action, once the driver has already been cited or charged with a traffic violation or some other offense. An officer who notices a camera mount cannot make that the reason for the stop. The companion nontransparent-material rule in section 60-6,255 carries no such limit and no fine schedule of its own.