What's happening
This bill requires insurance premium reductions for vehicles with approved dashboard cameras, mandates insurer review of dashcam footage in claims, and allows dashcam footage as legal evidence.
Why it matters
Creates a financial incentive for drivers to install and maintain dashboard cameras. by requiring a 5% insurance premium reduction, but also imposes penalties and potential future disqualification from discounts if a driver falsely claims to have an operating camera, making continued compliance important.
Requires insurance companies to actively consider dashcam footage in claims investigations. and to certify this review to state regulators, which could increase the accuracy of claim determinations and potentially reduce fraudulent or disputed claims.
Incorporates dashboard camera checks into annual vehicle safety inspections. , ensuring that only approved and operational cameras qualify for benefits, and establishes a regulatory framework for camera standards (size, placement, and approved models) to ensure safety and consistency.
Makes dashcam footage automatically admissible as evidence in both civil and criminal court cases. , increasing the potential legal impact of such recordings and possibly affecting outcomes in accident disputes, insurance fraud, or criminal proceedings.
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Who cares
Non-commercial passenger vehicle policyholders
Those with compliant, operating dashboard cameras would receive a 5% reduction on specified auto insurance coverages, but false certification or a nonworking camera could trigger a penalty and loss of future discounts.
Auto insurers
They would have to provide the discount, review available dashboard camera images when settling motor vehicle claims and certify that review to the insurance superintendent.
DMV and certified vehicle inspectors
DMV would set dashboard camera standards, while inspectors would check cameras during safety inspections and document their compliance and operating condition.
Civil litigants, prosecutors and criminal defendants
Dashboard camera images would be admissible as proof of the events they depict in civil and criminal proceedings.
Headline styles
Discount for Dash Cam Cars
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 14
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to insurance
- Referred to insurance
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5378
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 29, 2019
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, the vehicle and traffic law, the civil practice law and rules, and the criminal procedure law, in relation to dashboard cameras
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 2336 of the insurance law is amended by adding a new subsection (i) to read as follows:
(i) (1) Any schedule or rating plan for non-commercial private passenger insurance shall provide for a five percent reduction in premium charges for bodily injury liability, property damage liability, personal injury protection, medical payments and collision coverage with respect to automobiles equipped with an operating dashboard camera that complies with the rules and regulations of the commissioner of motor vehicles promulgated pursuant to subdivision fifty-four of section three hundred seventy-five of the vehicle and traffic law. Each insurer may establish such requirements as it shall deem necessary for the submission of proof and certification that such a dashboard camera has been installed in the insured automobile and that such camera is in operating condition. The superintendent shall, in consultation with the commissioner of motor vehicles, promulgate rules and regulations.
(2) In any instance in which an insured is receiving the premium reduction provided in paragraph one of this subsection and the insured has falsely certified that his or her automobile is equipped with an operating dashboard camera or the dashboard camera is no longer in operating condition while the automobile is being operated, the insurer may impose a civil penalty upon such insured equal to the premium reduction granted for the dashboard camera for one year or for the period such reduction was wrongfully granted, whichever shall be shorter. Furthermore, an insurer may thereafter deny the provision of such premium
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06202-04-9
S. 5378 2
reduction regardless of whether a suitable dashboard camera is installed in the automobile in the future.
(3) Every insurer shall include in each certification completed by an insured pursuant to this subsection, a statement of the imposition of the civil penalty authorized by paragraph two of this subsection in the event such certification is false. In addition each such certification shall inform the insured of his or her duty to maintain the dashboard camera in working condition at all times.
§ 2. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 5110 to read as follows:
§ 5110. Review of dashboard camera images. (a) Every insurer in the settlement of any claim involving a motor vehicle or motor vehicles, shall review any available images from a dashboard camera or dashboard cameras installed in any of the vehicles to which such claim relates. Thereafter, each such insurer shall submit certification of such review to the superintendent.
(b) The images from a dashboard camera shall be considered based on the totality of the circumstances of a claim, and such images shall not be deemed to be dispositive, but shall be considered as any other evidence relating to a claim.
§ 3. Subdivision (c) of section 301 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new paragraph 4 to read as follows:
(4)(i) During the course of each safety inspection, a certified inspector shall determine whether a dashboard camera is installed in the motor vehicle. In the event that such a camera is installed in a motor vehicle, he or she shall determine whether the dashboard camera complies with the rules and regulations of the commissioner promulgated pursuant to subdivision fifty-four of section three hundred seventy-five of this title and whether such camera is in operating condition while the motor vehicle is being operated.
(ii) In the event a motor vehicle does not have a dashboard camera, has a camera which does not comply with the rules of the commissioner, or such camera is not in operating condition, the certified inspector shall include a notation, that the motor vehicle does not have an operating dashboard camera, upon the certificate of inspection provided to the owner and the department.
(iii) In the event a motor vehicle has an operating dashboard camera, which complies with the rules and regulations of the commissioner, the certified inspector shall issue a certification thereof to the owner and the department.
§ 4. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 322 to read as follows:
§ 322. Dashboard camera records. Upon the request of any insurer issuing owner's policies of liability insurance, the commissioner shall forward to such insurer a copy of any report, relating to a dashboard camera installed in a motor vehicle insured by the insurer, which the commissioner possesses pursuant to paragraph four of subdivision (c) of section three hundred one of this title.
§ 5. Section 375 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new subdivision 54 to read as follows:
54. Dashboard cameras. The commissioner shall, by rules and regulations, establish standards for the size, location and use of dashboard cameras installed in motor vehicles. The commissioner may maintain a list of those dashboard cameras approved by him or her as conforming to the specifications and requirements established for such cameras.
S. 5378 3
§ 6. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new section 4549 to read as follows:
§ 4549. Dashboard camera images. Any image or images produced by a dashboard camera shall be admissible as proof of the occurrence or event depicted in such image or images.
§ 7. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new section 60.80 to read as follows: § 60.80 Dashboard camera images.
Any image or images produced by a dashboard camera shall be admissible as proof of the occurrence or event depicted in such image or images.
§ 8. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law and section one of this act shall apply to all policies issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended on or after such date. Effective immediately, any and all rules and regulations and any other measures necessary to implement the provisions of this act on its effective date are authorized to be completed on or before such date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the insurance law, the vehicle and traffic law, the civil practice law and rules, and the criminal proce- dure law, in relation to dashboard cameras
Purpose or general idea of bill
Provides for a 5% automobile insurance premium reduction for non-commer- cial vehicles equipped with an operating dashboard camera
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 adds a new subsection (i) to Section 2236 of the Insurance Law, for the purposes of establishing a discount of five percent off of the base rates of automobile liability insurance, when a customer has installed a dashboard camera in their motor vehicle. Subsection (ii) provides for civil penalties that may be waged by the insurer in the case of false certifications made by customers claiming this discount.
Read the full memo (776 words)
Section 2 amends the Insurance Law by adding a new Section 5110, for the purposes of requiring an insurer to review dashboard camera footage following the receipt of a claim. The section makes clear that dashboard camera images are not to be deemed dispositive of a claim, and are to be viewed in the totality of the circumstances involved.
Section 3 amends Subdivision (c) of Section 301 of the Vehicle and Traf- fic Law by adding a new paragraph 4, which sets forth new inspection standards that allow the presence of a dashboard camera to be reported during the course of a driver's routine emissions testing.
Section 4 amends the Vehicle and Traffic Law by adding a new Section 322 that sets forth a procedure through which an insurer may request records pertaining to the installation of dashboard cameras from the Department of Motor Vehicles, in order to assess the viability of an insured's request for, or maintenance of, the 5% premium discount.
Section 5 amends Section 375 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law by adding a new Subsection 52, which allows the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles the ability to promulgate rules and regulations pertain- ing to the safe use of dashboard cameras, including the size and location these devices within motor vehicles.
Section 6 amends the C.P.L.R. by adding a new Section 4549, which permits the admissibility of dashboard camera images as proof of the occurrence or event depicted in such images, in civil legal proceedings.
Section 7 amends the Criminal Procedure Law by adding a new Section 60.80, which permits the admissibility of dashboard cameras as proof of the occurrence or event depicted in such images, in criminal legal proceedings.
Section 8 sets forth the effective date of the law.
Justification
New York has a long history of promoting motor vehicle safety by offer- ing mandatory discounts on drivers' car insurance, including rates that take into effect automatic safety belts, airbags, and most recently, the completion of a defensive driving course. As technology continues to progress, growing evidence has supported the value of dashboard cameras installed in cars, and other motor vehicles. In fact, several European nations have already begun instituting discounts on car insurance rates for drivers that take advantage of this technology.
Though New York is a 'no-fault jurisdiction' for the purposes of typical accidents involving motor vehicles, it remains the case that civil liti- gation often occurs in the context of "serious injuries," as well as hit-and-run collisions. Beyond damage to property, hit and run accidents cause serious injuries and often times, result in pedestrian fatalities. Though on the decline, 131 pedestrian deaths resulted from traffic acci- dents 2014. There is good reason to believe that dashboard cameras could play an important role in solving these crimes; while investigators may not be able to retrieve a suspect's camera, it is entirely possible that these incidents could be caught on tape by other vehicles that are near- by.
Additionally, reports indicate a rise in insurance fraud schemes that involve reckless driving by motorists. Dashboard cameras not only provide protection to drivers in such cases where evidence could demon- strate their lack of liability, but these cameras may also play an important role in enriching criminal prosecutions for fatal hit-and-run incidents.
Prior legislative history
Introduced 2018 - referred to Insurance
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to all policies issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended on or after such date. Provided, however, that, effective immediately, any and all rules and regulations and any other measures necessary to implement the provisions of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be completed on or before such date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.