Ohio Names the Dash Cam: Windshield Mounting Rules Under R.C. 4513.24

The base prohibition is broad. R.C. 4513.24(B)(1) makes it an offence to drive any motor vehicle other than a bus with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material on the front windshield, sidewings, side windows or rear windows, apart from a certificate or other paper required by law. The single general allowance is a sign, poster or decal not exceeding four inches in height by six inches in width, placed in the lower left-hand or right-hand corner of the windshield. The same division adds a rule that catches badly placed devices even when they are small: nothing may be displayed in the front windshield so as to conceal the vehicle identification number where federal law puts that number inside the passenger compartment, readable through the glazing without moving any part of the vehicle. On most modern cars that plate sits at the base of the windshield on the driver's side, which rules out parking a camera or its wiring directly over it.

Division (B)(2) is the dash cam provision, and it is unusually explicit. It disapplies the prohibition for a person driving a passenger car with an electronic device located in the front windshield, and the illustrative list runs: an antenna, an electronic tolling or other transponder, a camera, a directional navigation device, or other similar electronic device. The driver qualifies if either of two conditions is met. The device may be a vehicle safety technology as defined in 49 C.F.R. 393.5 that complies with 49 C.F.R. 393.60(e)(1)(ii), or, alternatively, it may simply be a device that does not restrict the operator's sight lines to the road and to highway signs and signals and does not conceal the vehicle identification number. For an ordinary retail dash cam the second route is the one that matters, and it is a functional test rather than a measurement: mount the camera behind or beside the rear view mirror, where the mirror already blocks the view, and it is outside the offence.

Commercial cars are handled separately by division (B)(3), which offers the same vehicle safety technology route but replaces the sight lines and VIN test with a hard number. A device qualifies if it does not restrict the driver's sight lines to the road, signs and signals and is mounted not more than eight and one-half inches below the upper edge of the windshield. That figure is new. The version of R.C. 4513.24 in force from June 29, 2011 under House Bill 114 of the 129th General Assembly required a commercial windshield device to be mounted not more than six inches below the upper edge and to sit outside the area swept by the wipers. House Bill 392 of the 134th General Assembly, effective April 3, 2023, raised the six inches to eight and one-half, dropped the wiper sweep condition, and changed both divisions from requiring both conditions to requiring either one. A fleet operator who set mounting standards before April 2023 is working to a stricter rule than Ohio now applies.

Three neighbouring provisions shape where a camera may go. R.C. 4513.23(A) requires the operator of every vehicle to have a clear and unobstructed view to the front and to both sides, and a clear view to the rear by mirror, which is the general obstruction duty behind the specific windshield rule. R.C. 4513.241(F) prohibits reflectorized material anywhere on the windshield, side windows, sidewings or rear window, so a mirrored camera housing or reflective mount is a separate problem from the sight lines test. And R.C. 4513.242 shows how narrowly Ohio drafts these permissions when it wants to: it allows a security decal on a side window or sidewing, notwithstanding both R.C. 4513.24 and R.C. 4513.241(F), only where the decal is necessary for security arrangements the vehicle is periodically subjected to, is no larger than necessary, and does not obscure the operator's vision or prevent someone outside from seeing inside.

Recording is a separate question from mounting, and Ohio answers it favourably. R.C. 2933.52(B)(4) exempts from the wiretapping offence a person who is not a law enforcement officer and who intercepts a wire, oral or electronic communication where that person is a party to the communication, or where one party has given prior consent, provided the interception is not for the purpose of committing a criminal offence, a tortious act, or any other injurious act. Ohio is therefore a one-party consent state, and a driver recording audio inside their own car is a party to the conversation. The proviso still matters: recording undertaken to commit an injurious act loses the exemption.

A violation of any division of R.C. 4513.24, including an unlawfully placed windshield camera, is a minor misdemeanor under division (D). That means a fine of not more than $150 under R.C. 2929.28(A)(2)(a)(v) and no jail term, since R.C. 2929.24 provides no jail sentence for a minor misdemeanor. R.C. 4513.23(B) and R.C. 4513.241(K)(1) grade obstruction of view and reflectorized material at the same level, so a poorly mounted camera can attract more than one citation from the same stop.

Enforcement is roadside rather than scheduled. Ohio has no periodic safety inspection for passenger cars, so no annual test exists at which a camera mount would be measured. R.C. 4513.02(B)(1) allows a State Highway Patrol trooper to direct any driver to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection, and that inspection expressly covers glass and mirrors alongside brakes, lights and wipers. Under R.C. 4513.02(F) the inspecting officer may issue a repair order that the owner or operator must comply with and return with proof. Commercial carriers face a stricter regime: the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio adopts the federal motor carrier regulations by Ohio Adm.Code 4901:2-5-03(A), and rule 4901:2-5-01(A) puts commission transportation department staff and designated State Highway Patrol employees in charge of those vehicle inspections.

One further exposure applies to a phone used as a dash cam rather than a dedicated camera. R.C. 4511.204(H)(1) defines an electronic wireless communications device to include a computer tablet and any device capable of displaying a video, movie, broadcast television image or visual image, and division (A) prohibits operating a vehicle while using, holding, or physically supporting such a device with any part of the body. The offence is an unclassified misdemeanor punished under division (D)(1) by a fine of up to $150 for a first offence, up to $250 where there is one prior violation within two years, and up to $500 where there are two or more, with a discretionary 90-day licence suspension at that third level. A camera fixed to the glass and left alone is not being held or supported; reaching over to work its screen while moving is a different matter.