Does a power cord count as obstruction of view?

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IcedBladez

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Hello, I live in Utah and I am planning to mount my dash cam behind my rear view mirror. Would having the power cable hanging from the camera be obstructing my view, and illegal? I dont want to route my cable around the passenger side yet.

Thanks in advance.
 
Would probably vary by state so unless someone here is from Utah all you will get is a lot of speculation. You can probably do a Google search on "Utah obstructing view" or something similar and come up with as good or better answer than you'll get here.
 
I doubt it...just google it
The utah statutes that apply are 41-6a-1635 and 41-6a-1705 from what I saw. Check em out
 
I would not think that a thin cord would be an obstruction but it would allow an officer to know you had something on your windshield because it is visible and draws attention to the fact, so if there is an obstruction law they can pull you over and site you. The fact that it is hidden behind the mirror will not be an out; once they have you pulled over they will have to give you a ticket just because you were trying to be clever and hide the cam behind the mirror. Cops hate clever. The fact you could easily beat the ticket is of no consequence either, you still have to go to court and waste your own time to beat such a silly ticket (ask me how I know about this sometime). Personally I would rout the cable around the windshield even if it is only partially hidden just to avoid any issues and you will be over half way to making it hidden later.
 
I would also route the cable even if temporary. you could use the sun visor to hold the wire up until you get to the pillar, then just stuff or use some painters tape to hold the wire to the pillar.
Having the wire hanging down was pretty annoying for me while I was deciding on placement.
 
If the cable is dangling down in front of the screen then, imo, it's a distraction when it starts swinging / jiggling about.
Then again, I cannot understand why anyone would want 'stuff' dangling from their rvm - anything like this can potentially be a distraction.

The other problem with this scenario - if the plug is underneath or on the side, it could become dislodged under the weight of the moving cable. On the side or on top, the thin strands inside the cable could break. So, ideally, the cable should be secured.
 
I suggest routing the cable behind the headliner down to and around the pillar top behind the trim under the door weather stripping down to the dash behind the panel exposed when the door is opened. Then power from the fuse box with an add-a-fuse to a loose 12v socket. Find a fuse that energizes with ignition and you'll rarely fuss with the dashcam thereafter. For an even easier hardware, buy a Shadow-Tec GT880s, run same to the drivers side and plug into the OBD II connector.

As to the wind shield obstruction, I got stopped over for a stupid oversight. When the officer approached, "Thank you" was the first words I said. I was wrong and deserved to be stopped as I hope another would for the same oversight. The officer decided that particular situation was atypical and required consideration. The Garmin suction cupped to my wind shield provided him a means to write a $25 ticket for wind shield obstruction instead of one that started at $500 and came with a court appearance. The Garmin now stays put with a 3M adhesive mount.

BTW - In northeast USA Garmin's LMTHD units are awesome. Mine takes me four different routes to work depending on the traffic and I'm always there within 5 minutes of initial arrival time. Since I'm currently logging between between 600 and 900 miles a week, its my must have co-pilot.
 
I have at least one (usually more) cables dangling down from the RV mirror.
Hope I don't get pulled over and a cop gives me fuss about it.
I've seen much worse in my friend's vehicles though, from air fresheners to soft dolls hanging so in comparison, a thin power cable is a non issue as far as I'm concerned.
 
I live in Utah and say....who cares. I HIGHLY doubt a reasonably mounted dashcam would arouse the ire of any police officer. I can say personally I've had two police interactions over the past several years in Utah where they were aware of my dashcam and in both instances the officers were more surprised and intrigued than anything. Dashcams are so rare here I doubt many police at all would even consider or be aware of or care about any legalities pertaining to their use.
 
Legality aside, if you expect to have LEO encounters, there is no amount of tidying of your ship that will keep you from getting cited if you get one who is out to pick a fight (and there are a lot of them). The average American commits three felonies by dinner time each day. The real question is, what can you do to fly below the radar and avoid their cross hairs.
 
Technically it do here, but its part of a law that don't seem to be upheld by the police judging on all the crap ppl stick to their windscreen and hang from the mirror.
 
kamkar1 said:
Technically it do here, but its part of a law that don't seem to be upheld by the police judging on all the crap ppl stick to their windscreen and hang from the mirror.
Click to expand...

Likewise here. Virtually all cars on the road have some form of obstructed view. Whether it's a parking permit hanging from the rearview mirror, inspection/parking stickers stuck on the windscreen, radar detectors, gps units, cellphone holders, etc. These are rarely enforced. But, they can be. So long as you're respectful, obedient, and remorseful when pulled over, these will be ignored. But, if you somehow manage to be guilty of 'contempt of cop', these are the kinds of violations that will be used to make your life miserable.
 
The laws and the enforcement of them varies according to where you are. Some places like the UK have very specific regulations regarding size and placement of things within the drivers forward view, while other places leave the question of what constitutes an obstruction open to the Officer's or a Court's interpretation. Also to be considered is whether you may be driving in another jurisdiction. Some States prohibit radar detectors and having the cable visible could get you pulled over for suspicion of violating such laws, so it's wisest to hide the cabling even if only by temporary means. What they don't notice won't hurt you ;)

Phil
 
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