Irish motorists using the latest recording technology could be filming themselves into a legal corner. Cameras fitted to the dashboards of cars, popularly known as 'dash-cams' are becoming more and more popular around the world. Their twin primary uses are for entertainment (they're especially popular with drivers who enjoy driving high-performance cars on track-days, and are essentially the petrol-head's equivalent of holiday snaps) and legal protection. The use of dash-cams to protect oneself against scams and hit-and-run drivers is particularly prevalent in Russia, where such schemes are almost endemic.
Here and in the UK the popularity of dash-cams is on the rise for similar reasons, and they make good legal sense in this regard. Most record on a loop of several minutes meaning that to capture anything that has just happened you simply need to stop the camera immediately after any incident occurs.
However, it's worth remembering that you are recording your own driving and actions as well as those of others - and that could have consequences for you. If a case came to court where you were accused of dangerous driving, the footage from your dash-cam could potentially be seized as evidence against you.
For now, this is far from certain. The devices are not currently covered under the Road Traffic Act, so as a matter of course the Gardaí cannot demand the footage. "As far as we're aware there's nothing to compel you to give anything other than the details demanded of you by a Garda at the scene of an accident" Alec Gabbet, a solicitor with Leahy & Partners told us. "Gardaí really only collect evidence of an accident when they attend the scene, that's why they do so and that's why you're supposed to call them and remain on the scene. In fact the thought occurs that if anything it could be more beneficial to you to have a dash-cam. In the event that you're prosecuted for dangerous driving, it could prove your innocence. Potentially, the Gardaí could seize the footage with a search warrant, but there's nothing under the current Road Traffic Act that would allow them access to such data.
"Further down the line, yes, the Gardaí could well begin seeking the regular use of such images and data, but that would require a change to the Road Traffic Act, and to be honest, getting any act changed is a nightmare. Then there's the simple fact that a lot of the district courts simply aren't set up for the regular viewing of such multi-media footage."
The possibility is there, though. Shane Lenehan from the Garda Press Office told us that "There is provision in legislation, supported by case law for An Garda Síochána to obtain evidence. However, it is the matter for any presiding Judge to decide on the admissibility of any evidence."
Certainly the police and courts in the UK have been keen to leap upon the opportunity provided by the growth of dash-cam usage. Many constabularies have publicly appealed for dash-cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted and several successful prosecutions have taken place with that footage used in evidence. The Gardaí and the Irish courts can hardly have ignored these successes.
Aside from the potential for their use in court, there are broader worries about dash-cams and other forms of in-car connectivity, from satnav to on-board internet systems. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the US Government found that car makers were mining data from road users via their satnav and internet-connected vehicle systems, and that data was potentially being sold on to third parties without the permission of the drivers.
The data included regularly visited locations, time spent in a given location and general driving habits, and the GAO found that "if companies, retained data, they did not allow consumers to request that their data be deleted, which is a recommended practice." The GAO report went on to recommend that "companies should safeguard location data, in part, by de-identifying it; that companies should not keep location data longer that needed; and that such data should be deleted after a specific amount of time." No specific car makers were named in the report, but General Motors has previously been castigated by officials for lax or imprecise handling of customer data from its in-car On-Star system.
The Democratic senator for Minnesota, Al Franken, was one of those who called for the GAO's investigation and said in a statement that "modern technology now allows drivers to get turn-by-turn directions in a matter of seconds, but our privacy laws haven't kept pace with these enormous advances. Companies providing in-car location services are taking their customers' privacy seriously - but this report shows that people across the country need much more information about how data is being collected, what it's being used for, and how it's being shared with third parties."