Govt mulls over making dashcams mandatory

The government is mulling over the notion of making dashcams a mandatory feature.

While the government has no plans yet to make dashcams mandatory for all road vehicles, it did not rule out making dashcams mandatory for new cars.

“Anything made mandatory, people will say it adds cost. They already feel the pinch and don’t want additional expenses,” said Transport Minister Anthony Loke on making dashcams mandatory for all land transport.

“So, this (installing dashcams) is something we haven’t decided to make mandatory yet,” Loke said during an engagement session with news editors on road safety.

“What we can do is start with making it a condition for new cars. Manufacturers will have to meet certain specifications, and a dashcam could be one of these features.

“Any new car produced must then include a dashcam. This is something we might consider,” he said, adding that any implementation of a new rule across the board would be “very challenging”.

“Some vehicles don’t even have the right specifications to fit a child car seat at all. So if we were to make it (dashcams) compulsory, we could perhaps do it for new vehicles.”