Auto makers are being given six months to comply once a measure pending at the House of Representatives is enacted which requires all vehicles to be fitted with a dashboard camera. House Bill No. 6265 otherwise known as the “Dashboard Camera Act of 2017”, will require all vehicles sold in the domestic market to be fitted with such a device.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will not register vehicles without dash cameras and Public Utility Vehicles (PUV) operators will not be granted a franchise if they do not comply. PUVs already in operation prior to the effectivity of the measure should comply with requirements upon renewal of registration, or not later than six months from the issuance of implementing rules and regulations.
Representative Eric L. Olivarez of Paranaque City,the bill’s author, argues that having a dash cam is a safety issue.” A ‘dash cam’ is a device attached to the vehicle that can monitor and record all activitie inside and outside the vehicle. It can provide a record of police behavior during traffic stops, documenting incidents of road rage and recording events leading up to accidents caused by drunk drivers, sleepy or wayward drivers for reporting to insurance companies,” states Olivarez. Olivarez also said in California and nominally in Australia, the legalization of dash cams has led to an 80 percent reduction in accidents in cars. Drivers in Russia have also been early adopters of dashboard camera technologies for self-protection and have used and uploaded footages online as visual proof and admissible evidence to fend off charges from possibly corrupt police officers and against insurance scammers who often stage accidents, Olivarez said in a statement.
Also, the bill provides that the usage of the dash cam as a recording device shall be in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Under the bill, no bus, taxi, or any other public utility vehicle for that matter, shall be allowed registration and renewal of registration by the LTO without the dash camera, after the one-year grace period expiration.
Vehicle manufacturers and private owners will be fined P100,000 if they fail to install dashcams in all variants to be sold in the local market. PUV operators who do not comply will be fined at least P5,000, with penalties going up to P10,000 and P15,000 for succeeding offenses.
Those who tamper with dash cams or fail to provide videos upon order of the LTFRB will likewise be meted fines. Licenses or franchises can be revoked for subsequent offenses.
Those who violate the secrecy of the videos, meanwhile, can face imprisonment of one to three years, and a fine of P100,000 to P2 million. As a complimentary measure to House Bill 6265, a similar measure is also pending at the Senate. Known as the “Dash Cam Law”, Senate Bill No. 1457 mandates the installation of dash cams in all PUVs, government-owned patrol vehicles and similar vehicles used by law enforcement agencies, service vehicles, and others.