Welcome to the forum pinetree.
There are a lot of different laws around in states / countries.
In my country the law are quite ambiguous though some parts say you can absolutely not have anything in your field of view, but you are allowed to have stuff on the windscreen but it is not really specified very much.
In general they say at the bottom of the windscreen is okay, and thats also fine for a NAV unit or maybe a phone holder, Still many put those dead center on the windscreen, and i have often seen local cop programs where stuff like that are not even mentioned.
Filming a accident a while back where the driver ran from the scene on foot ( after posing in front of my side camera ) i said to the cop i have it on camera, he went what camera, i said the dashcaams on my windscreen, he hunched over saying what camera, i said lean over further and look at the top of the windscreen and you will see 5 cameras there.
The cop leaned further and went Ooooooo i see.
A hour later when we met on the station and i brought the footage of the crash + the side camera footage of the driver, they was very happy cuz the driver was a well known " usual suspect" so they could drive to where he live if he was home,,,,, and get a drug test on him, i sort of understood that the guy did not have a license to operate a motor vehicle, and like so many here is a avid drug user.
So the sweet spot of a camera on top of the windscreen and in the middle, if possible in front of the mirror work fine for me, as the layout of my car allow for a whole host of cameras there.
A discreetly mounted camera most people will not see, or if they do just take it for yet another sensor, there is a video on YT where someone get his jeep carjacked at gunpoint, the guys drive around with a Garmin camera right in front of the driver, and that Garmin is a square action camera shaped one that would be easy to spot.
A nice install (y) Might want to aim the lens down a notch if you get washout in bright sun ;) And Welcome to DCT :cool: Phil
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