B.C. Dash Cam Law (Bill M217): A Fleet Compliance Guide

Key Takeaways

• Bill M217 passed third reading unanimously on May 25, 2026, and applies to commercial vehicles over 11,793 kg GVWR.
• Cameras must face the road, record continuously at 1080p or better, work at night and keep at least 72 hours of footage.
• The start date is not fixed. Reporting points to six months after Royal Assent, but the BC Trucking Association says regulations must come first.
• Footage is personal information. Fleets need a driver notice, access controls and a retention rule under PIPA.
• A compliant camera records what happened. Preventing the next incident takes in-cab monitoring, collision warnings and operator scoring.

After a collision involving a loaded truck, the first questions are always the same. Who was at fault, what happened in the seconds before impact, and can anyone prove it? Without video, the answers come from skid marks, witness statements and memory, and a careful driver can end up carrying the blame for someone else’s mistake. The new B.C. dash cam law is meant to settle those questions with evidence.

The stakes are real for carriers. The BC Trucking Association (BCTA) says that in 75 to 80 per cent of collisions involving a commercial vehicle, the commercial driver is not at fault. Until now, proving that depended on whether a fleet chose to install cameras. Bill M217 makes cameras a requirement for heavy commercial vehicles across the province.

This guide covers what the Act requires, who is responsible, when it is likely to apply, and how footage must be handled under privacy law. It also explains what a compliance-only camera cannot do, and how fleets can move from recording incidents to preventing them.

What is the Dashboard Cameras in Commercial Vehicles Act?

The Dashboard Cameras in Commercial Vehicles Act is a British Columbia law, introduced as Bill M217, that requires heavy commercial vehicles to carry a forward-facing dash camera recording the road continuously. Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer introduced it after a string of fatal crashes on Highway 5.

It makes B.C. the first Canadian jurisdiction to require commercial dash cameras, turning video evidence from an optional upgrade into standard equipment.

What does the B.C. dash cam law require?

The Act sets a minimum specification for the camera and splits responsibility between the vehicle owner and the driver. Here is what it covers, based on published summaries of the Act. Regulations may still refine the technical details.

The Act covers outward-facing cameras only. Cameras inside the cab are not required, a choice Global News reports was made to address privacy concerns raised in committee. Reporting on the Act also indicates it creates no new offences or fines.

Who is responsible: owners or drivers?

Both, for different things. The owner, or the lessee for a leased vehicle, must install and maintain the camera. The driver must make sure it keeps recording and that nothing blocks its view.

In practice, the hard part is not installation. It is knowing, every day, that each camera is still working. A full memory card, a loose power cable or a parking pass placed over the lens can stop a camera recording without anyone noticing until the footage is needed.

Owners need a way to confirm camera health across the fleet, and drivers need a simple pre-trip check. Fleets running leased or long-term rental units should also confirm in the lease terms who arranges installation.

When does the B.C. dash cam law take effect?

There is no confirmed start date yet. The bill passed third reading unanimously on May 25, 2026, and Royal Assent was reported on May 28, 2026. Global News reported the Act would come into force six months after Royal Assent, which would put the start in late November 2026.

The BC Trucking Association says the legislation will not take effect until its regulations are finalized. In July 2026 it formed a Dashcam Task Force to collect industry input for the province.

The practical answer is to plan for the earlier date. Sourcing hardware, installing it across a fleet and writing driver policies all take time. Fleets that start now can fit installations into routine maintenance visits instead of pulling trucks off the road at the last minute.

Dash cam footage and privacy: what PIPA means for fleets

Dash cam footage often shows drivers, pedestrians and other road users, so it usually contains personal information under B.C.’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). Because the Act ties footage handling to PIPA, the fleet owner is accountable for how recordings are collected, stored, shared and deleted. The points below are general orientation, not legal advice; confirm your approach with privacy counsel.

Tell drivers before you record

Under PIPA, an employer can collect employee personal information without consent to manage the employment relationship, but only after telling the employee what is collected and why. B.C.’s privacy commissioner has enforced this for vehicle data: in a 2013 order on fleet telematics, an employer was told to stop collecting until it gave employees specific notice. A written driver notice, issued before cameras go live, closes that gap.

Limit who can see footage

Give access only to the people who need it, such as safety managers and claims staff, and keep a record of who viewed or exported each clip. PIPA requires reasonable security safeguards, and role-based access controls are among the examples in OIPC guidance.

Set a retention rule beyond the 72 hours

The Act sets how much the camera must hold, not how long saved clips should be kept. OIPC guidance says information used to make a decision that directly affects a person must be kept for at least one year, so they have a reasonable chance to request access. Decide which clips are saved, for how long, and when they are deleted.

Prepare for requests from police and insurers

The Act does not yet say which authorities can request footage, or when. The BCTA has asked the province to clarify, including whether carriers must hand over footage when their truck was only a witness. Until regulations answer this, route every external request through one named privacy contact and record what was shared.

Treat in-cab cameras as a separate decision

Driver-facing cameras are not required, and the BCTA has asked that regulations confirm the requirement covers forward-facing video only. Fleets that choose in-cab monitoring for safety should justify it on its own terms under PIPA, explain it in the driver notice, and avoid recording audio without a clear need.

One more check: interprovincial trucking companies are federally regulated, so the federal PIPEDA, not PIPA, generally governs their handling of personal information. To help fleets get started, TENDERD has prepared a dash camera footage privacy and security policy and a driver notice template that fleet owners can adapt.

Why the B.C. dash cam law matters beyond compliance

Fleets will install cameras because the law requires them. The value shows up in the hours and days after something goes wrong.

1. Settle fault with evidence

Road-facing video shows the sequence of events: who changed lanes, who braked first, what the signal showed. When a commercial driver is not at fault, that footage can clear the driver and the claim quickly.

2. Defend against unfounded claims

When a third party claims damage the truck did not cause, footage gives the fleet a factual answer. That matters on busy highways and at congested job sites alike.

3. Shorten investigations

A clip with time and location gives insurers, investigators and safety teams the same picture at once. That cuts the back-and-forth that keeps a claim open and a driver under review.

4. Coach drivers with real footage

Forward-facing video shows following distance, lane position and behaviour at intersections. Safety teams can coach with specific clips instead of general reminders.

How to prepare your fleet for the B.C. dash cam law

Here is how to get from today to a compliant fleet without a last-minute scramble.

Step 1: Build an inventory of covered vehicles

List every vehicle with a GVWR above 11,793 kg, including leased units. Flag vocational equipment such as concrete mixers and mobile cranes, whose status the BCTA has asked the province to clarify, and check how units plated outside B.C. are treated once regulations are published.

Step 2: Audit the cameras you already have

Test each existing camera against the full specification at its actual settings. The BCTA notes that many fleet camera systems reach 72 hours only at a lower resolution, or keep less than 72 hours when recording continuously in high definition.

Step 3: Select hardware against the full specification

Use the criteria in the next section. Give extra weight to local storage capacity, since the Act calls for recording on the device and connectivity in Northern and Interior B.C. can be unreliable.

Step 4: Write the footage policy and notify drivers

Set out what is recorded, why, who can access it, how long clips are kept and how outside requests are handled. Give drivers the notice before cameras go live.

Step 5: Schedule installation and daily checks

Fit installations into planned maintenance visits. Add a camera check to pre-trip inspections, and set up a fleet-wide view of camera status so a failed unit is caught the same day.

Step 6: Track the regulations

Regulations may adjust technical details, storage rules and access to footage. Assign one person to follow updates from the province and the BCTA.

How to choose a compliant dash cam system

When comparing dash cam systems for B.C. compliance, look past the headline specification. These are the factors that matter once cameras are in service.

1. The full specification at default settings

Confirm that 1080p, night vision and 72 hours of continuous recording are all met at the same time, on the manufacturer’s default settings.

2. Local storage with remote retrieval

Footage must sit on the device, but nobody should have to visit a truck to pull a clip. Look for systems that let a manager request video remotely.

3. Proof the camera is working

Look for status visibility across the whole fleet, so a disconnected or obstructed camera is flagged rather than discovered after an incident.

4. Privacy controls built in

Role-based access, an audit trail of who viewed or exported footage, and configurable retention make PIPA compliance easier to demonstrate.

5. One platform with the rest of your fleet data

A camera that links clips to location, speed, driver and maintenance records saves hours in every investigation.

6. Room to prevent, not just record

Check whether the same system can add in-cab monitoring, collision warnings and driver scoring when you are ready. Platforms such as TENDERD bring these pieces together in one place.

Beyond the minimum: preventing incidents with TENDERD Safety

A forward-facing camera tells you what happened. The TENDERD Safety module is built to flag the behaviour that leads to an incident while there is still time to act. Alongside a road-facing dash camera that meets the B.C. specification, it adds four layers of prevention.

In-cab monitoring with timely alerts

A driver-facing AI dash camera detects mobile phone use, distraction, fatigue and yawning, smoking, and unfastened seatbelts, and flags when the camera itself is covered. Telematics adds harsh braking, harsh acceleration, harsh cornering, overspeeding and lane departure warnings.

Each event is logged with time, location and speed. It can capture an image or a 10-second clip covering five seconds before and after, and alert a supervisor in real time. Because in-cab monitoring sits outside the Act, TENDERD recommends deploying it with a clear driver notice.

Collision warnings through PWAS

The Proximity Warning and Awareness System (PWAS) detects dangerously close encounters with people, objects and other vehicles. It powers forward collision warnings, headway monitoring for unsafe following distances, and pedestrian collision warnings, so risk is flagged before contact.

Engine safety and machine health

The Engine category flags operating conditions that add mechanical stress, such as prolonged idling, or four-wheel drive not engaged when conditions call for it. Rules are set per machine type. Paired with the Maintenance module, which schedules service on engine hours, odometer readings and days in use, it helps catch mechanical issues before they become roadside failures.

Operator Safety Score

Every operator receives a Safety Score, trended over time and benchmarked against the fleet average and the best-performing operator. Supervisors can see who is improving and who needs coaching, and back each conversation with the events behind the score.

Every event links to both the vehicle and the driver. From a vehicle’s profile, managers can open Trip Replay, request video or view a live feed, which is useful for checking a camera remotely. Book a B.C. fleet compliance check with TENDERD to see where your current setup stands and what prevention could add.

Compliance-only Dash cam vs. TENDERD Safety

Here is how a camera bought only to meet Bill M217 compares with the TENDERD Safety module.

Both options can satisfy the forward-facing requirement. The difference is what happens around an incident: a basic camera waits to be searched, while a connected safety system surfaces risk as it builds and attaches the evidence automatically.

The Bottom Line for B.C. fleets

Bill M217 sets a clear floor: a forward-facing camera recording continuously in HD, day and night, with at least 72 hours on board. The start date may still move, but the work behind compliance will not: an inventory, a hardware audit, a footage policy and an installation plan. Fleets that treat the camera as part of a wider safety system will get far more from it than a box ticked for inspectors. Book a free compliance check.