B.C.'s new dash cam law: A six-month clock is about to start for commercial fleets

If your trucks run routes in British Columbia, a new compliance requirement just became law.

Bill M217 — the Dashboard Cameras in Commercial Vehicles Act — has passed in the B.C. Legislature with unanimous, bipartisan support. Once it receives Royal Assent (the formal final step that turns a passed bill into active law), fleets incorporated in or traveling through B.C. have six months to install compliant dash cams on every commercial vehicle they operate.

This post breaks down everything fleet managers need to know about the coming mandate — what the law requires, who it covers, what hardware qualifies, when you need to be ready and more.

What does B.C.'s new dash cam law require?

Bill M217, the Dashboard Cameras in Commercial Vehicles Act, requires all commercial fleets traveling in British Columbia to have road-facing dash cams installed.

This bill was introduced by Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer. His motivation was direct: he began advocating for mandatory dash cams in 2023, while serving as mayor of Barriere, following fatal highway collisions involving commercial vehicles.

The bill passed all three readings with unanimous, bipartisan support in the B.C. Legislature in May 2026, making B.C. the first province in Canada to require dash cams on commercial vehicles.

The legislation includes five sections:

Section 1 — Definitions. "Commercial vehicle" adopts the existing definition from B.C.'s Commercial Transport Act. "Dashboard camera" means a recording device capable of continuously recording the view of the road in front of a commercial vehicle through the front windshield.

Section 2 — Installation and maintenance. The owner of the vehicle is responsible for installing and maintaining a compliant dash cam. For leased vehicles, the lessee assumes that obligation.

Section 3 — Operation. The operator must ensure the camera records continuously during vehicle operation and remains unobstructed at all times.

Section 4 — Regulations. The Lieutenant Governor may establish regulations — including the technical specifications, exemptions and enforcement mechanisms that the bill itself does not define.

Section 5 — Commencement. The act comes into force six months after Royal Assent.

Before it becomes active law, it needs Royal Assent — the formal approval of B.C.'s Lieutenant Governor that officially brings a bill into force. Once that step is complete, the six-month compliance window begins.

What vehicles does B.C.'s dash cam law apply to?

The act applies to commercial vehicles as defined in B.C.'s Commercial Transport Act — a broad definition that covers most commercially operated trucks and vans in the province:

• Vehicles with a licensed gross vehicle weight over 11,793 kilograms used to transport goods for hire
• National Safety Code (NSC) carriers operating under a B.C. carrier licence
• Leased commercial vehicles, where the lessee assumes the compliance obligation
• Commercial vehicles incorporated in other provinces, territories or states that travel through B.C.

What hardware specs does a compliant dash cam need to meet?

The bill itself is technology-neutral. The proposed technical requirements establish a clear baseline:

Forward-facing only is the mandate. The bill defines a dash cam as recording the view in front of the vehicle. During committee review, the legislation was deliberately limited to outward-facing cameras after privacy concerns were raised about inward-facing systems. Driver-facing cameras are not required under Bill M217. Fleets may choose to add them for coaching and liability purposes, but that decision comes with its own privacy obligations under B.C.'s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

72 hours is the floor, not the ceiling. The regulation sets a minimum retention period. Fleets that experience incidents and need footage from earlier in the week — for insurance claims, Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) investigations or legal defense — will want systems that store well beyond the minimum. Most incident response scenarios benefit from seven to 14 days of accessible footage.

Night vision is required. Commercial vehicles operate in all light conditions. The proposed regulations treat low-light capability as a baseline, not an upgrade.

When do fleets need to comply with Bill M217?

Although six months sounds like a comfortable runway, fleets should start looking for a solution now.

The clock starts the day Royal Assent is granted. Between now and the deadline, you need to audit your vehicles, evaluate hardware, place orders, get installation scheduled across your fleet, brief your drivers and update your internal policies. Equipment procurement lead times aren't always short, and installation books up fast across an industry when everyone is trying to comply at once.

Fleets that start now will have time and options. Fleets that wait for the final enforcement regulations to be published will be rushing to install against a hard deadline.

What are the fines for non-compliance, and who enforces B.C.'s dash cam law?

Bill M217 does not specify fines or enforcement mechanisms — those will be established by the CVSE branch of the B.C. Ministry of Transportation. CVSE already has authority to inspect commercial vehicles, issue out-of-service orders and levy fines for violations of the Commercial Transport Act and Motor Vehicle Act. The dash cam requirement will be enforced through the same framework.

The Ministry has indicated regulators are working to have enforcement details in place within six months to a year of Royal Assent. Until regulations are finalized, specific fines are not confirmed.

Subscribe to CVSE updates at cvse.ca and watch the B.C. Ministry of Transportation for regulatory bulletins. This is a live situation and enforcement details are still being developed.

Beyond the minimum: what today's dash cams can actually do for your fleet

Bill M217 sets the floor: a road-facing camera, 1080p, 72 hours of footage, night vision. That's what the law requires. But modern dash cam technology goes considerably further in terms of safety and liability protection for your fleets — and for B.C. fleets dealing with high-risk routes, complex insurance claims and ongoing driver safety management, the difference between the minimum and the possible matters.

More footage, more protection. 72 hours covers most post-incident scenarios. But insurance adjusters, CVSE investigations and legal proceedings often need footage from a week or more before an event. Systems with 128 GB to 1 TB of onboard storage — or cloud-based backup — give your team days or weeks of accessible footage rather than hours.

AI-powered event detection. The mandate requires footage. Modern dash cams use AI to surface what matters within that footage — automatically flagging harsh braking, rapid acceleration, following-distance violations and distracted driving. Your safety team reviews the events that need attention, not hours of uneventful highway driving.

Full event context, not just video. Road footage alone shows what happened. Paired with telematics data — GPS location, vehicle speed, etc. — it shows exactly why it happened. That combination is what resolves insurance disputes quickly and gives your drivers the clearest possible record of what actually occurred.

Proactive safety coaching. Footage from incidents is reactive. The real value in dash cam data is what it tells you before something goes wrong. Fleet-wide safety scoring, proactive in-cab alerts, driver ranking and structured coaching workflows help your safety team identify patterns — not just isolated events — and address risk before it becomes a claim.

The mandate is a starting point. The technology is much further ahead than where the legislation begins. Take a look at our best camera options here.

Unsure how to find the best compliant dash cam for your fleet?

A dash cam that doesn't connect to your existing fleet management platform creates a second data silo. When an incident happens, your team ends up cross-referencing video in one system against GPS and speed data in another. The setups that work best pair footage with the telematics data you're already collecting — so the full picture of any event is in one place, not two.

Geotab's GO Focus cameras are built around these criteria and connect directly into MyGeotab, so fleets already on the platform can get compliant without getting complicated.

Getting compliant is the starting line. Once that dash cam is installed, the question becomes: how do you make it work for your fleet beyond the mandate? Our ebook, Stop Watching Footage, Start Driving Results, walks through six tactics for turning video data into fewer incidents, lower insurance costs, and a coaching culture your drivers will actually get behind. Get your copy here.

Questions about compliance for your fleet? Talk to a Geotab fleet advisor: geotab.com