Every state in the U.S. allows dash cams. If you are reading this because you heard somewhere that dash cams are illegal, you can relax — but only partly. Video recording on public roads is legal in all 50 states. The two places where you can actually get into trouble are audio recording and windshield placement, and both trip up a surprising number of RedTiger owners.
Here is what the law actually says, state by state, and how to set up your redtiger dash cam so you never have to argue about it in front of a judge.
There is no federal law banning dash cams, and no state outright prohibits them. The legal reasoning is straightforward: on a public road, nobody has a reasonable expectation of privacy. A redtiger dash cam sitting on your windshield is doing the same thing a police officer or a traffic camera does — recording what is visible to anyone.
Courts have repeatedly held that recording people in public spaces is protected activity. Your dash cam is a passive device: it records continuously, it does not intercept phone calls, and it does not eavesdrop on private conversations. That is the line that matters. As long as you are recording what you can see and hear from inside your own car, the video half of the equation is legal in every state, from California to Maine.
Audio is where dash cam owners get themselves into trouble. Most states use a one-party consent rule: you can record a conversation if at least one person in the conversation agrees — and since you are in the conversation, that is you. But about a dozen states require two-party (or all-party) consent: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
In those states, recording the audio of a conversation that a passenger reasonably expects to be private can violate a wiretapping statute, even though the video is perfectly legal. Violations can carry criminal penalties and civil damages — in California, up to $5,000 per violation under Penal Code 637.2. Nobody buys a dash cam expecting to defend a wiretap lawsuit, so treat this seriously if you carry passengers.
The fix takes five seconds. On your RedTiger, open Settings and toggle Record Audio off when passengers are in the car, or leave it off entirely if you live in a two-party state. If you keep audio on, simply tell passengers the camera records sound — their knowing participation is what keeps you legal. The full walkthrough is in our RedTiger audio recording guide.
Windshield placement is the other rule that varies. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 says nothing can obstruct the driver's view, and roughly a dozen states add their own specific rules on top of that.
California is the strictest: a dash cam may only be mounted in the lower 7-inch square on the passenger side of the windshield, or the lower 5-inch square on the driver side. Arizona, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania have similar obstruction rules. New York bans anything hanging from the rearview mirror. If you drive across state lines, remember that the strictest state on your route sets the bar for the day.
You do not need a law degree to comply. Mount the camera behind the rearview mirror on the passenger side, keep it clear of airbag deployment zones, and prefer the adhesive mount over the suction cup in states that restrict hanging objects. RedTiger cams like the F7NP are small enough to disappear behind the mirror entirely. Our windshield placement guide has the breakdown for every model.
If you drive for Uber or Lyft, the rules stack higher. The platforms treat a dash cam with audio as a passenger-facing recording device and require you to disclose it — undisclosed recording can get you deactivated, and in two-party states it is also illegal without consent. Our rideshare guide covers how to stay compliant.
Commercial drivers answer to the FMCSA, which restricts how and where you can mount devices and forbids interacting with them while driving. A dash cam that is mounted securely and never touched while moving is fine; one that becomes a distraction is a violation. We detail the specifics in our truck driver guide.
Video evidence from a dash cam is routinely admitted in insurance disputes and civil cases. The timestamp, GPS coordinates, and speed that RedTiger embeds in the file make it far more persuasive than a cell phone video, because it is hard to dispute when and where it was recorded.
Audio is the part that can get excluded. If you recorded a conversation illegally under a two-party statute, a judge can throw out the audio — and in some cases the whole clip — which is a terrible way to lose your strongest evidence. That is the real reason to get the consent question right before you need the footage, not after.
When an incident happens, lock the file manually right away so it cannot be overwritten. See our evidence and insurance guide for the exact workflow, and our G-sensor guide to make sure crash detection is set correctly.
| State | Audio Consent | Note |
|---|---|---|
| California | Two-party | Strict windshield placement rules |
| Connecticut | Two-party | |
| Florida | Two-party | |
| Illinois | Two-party | |
| Maryland | Two-party | |
| Massachusetts | Two-party | |
| Michigan | Two-party | |
| Montana | Two-party | |
| Nevada | Two-party | |
| New Hampshire | Two-party | |
| Pennsylvania | Two-party | |
| Washington | Two-party | |
| Texas | One-party | |
| New York | One-party | No hanging objects from mirror |
| Georgia | One-party | |
| Ohio | One-party |
Every state not listed here is one-party consent, which means the video is legal and the audio is legal as long as you are a participant. If you live in or regularly drive through a two-party state, default to turning audio off or disclosing it.
Before you mount your redtiger dash cam, run through this list:
Need a camera with a quick audio toggle and a mount that tucks out of sight? The RedTiger F7NP is the model I recommend for most drivers — check the current price here. Once your setup is legal and mounted, our installation guide walks through the whole job in about twenty minutes.
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