6.2 In-Vehicle Recording Devices & Passenger Privacy

6.2 In-Vehicle Recording Devices & Passenger Privacy

Core Principle: Recording inside a chauffeured private hire car is prohibited unless LTA has given permission first. This is the opposite of the assumption many new drivers make. Installing recording equipment, using it without permission, or disclosing what it captured are each 21-demerit-point scheduled offences - the same weight as plying for hire or lending your vocational licence.

Inward-facing devices exist because a small enclosed cabin is where disputes, abuse and allegations happen, and footage protects drivers as much as commuters. But because the same camera records the face, conversation and personal data of every passenger, LTA has wrapped it in permission, installation and disclosure controls rather than leaving it to the driver's judgement.

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1. Outward Dashcam vs Inward-Facing Device

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2. The Permission and Installation Rules

LTA's guidelines apply to taxis and private hire cars because these are small enclosed spaces. The sequence is fixed:

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|          Fitting an Inward-Facing Recording Device: The Order           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  1. OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM LTA first                                    |
|         (taxi operators, PHC booking service operators, owners and       |
|          drivers must all do this BEFORE approaching an installer)       |
|                                    |                                    |
|  2. INSTALL ONLY AT AN LTA-AUTHORISED INSTALLATION CENTRE               |
|         (LTA appointed i Vision Pte Ltd, Solo Pte Ltd and SSTA           |
|          Technology Development Pte Ltd for this purpose)                |
|                                    |                                    |
|  3. DISPLAY THE PASSENGER NOTICES in the vehicle                        |
|                                    |                                    |
|  4. OPERATOR ALERTS THE COMMUTER when such a vehicle is assigned,       |
|         so the commuter can choose whether to take it                    |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Other published conditions:

• Audio is allowed in inward-facing IVRDs, in addition to video, since the guidelines were updated in July 2019. It was added so that recordings are more useful in investigating inappropriate or violent behaviour and fare disputes.
• Devices must be tamper-proof and installed according to the manufacturer's requirements.
• Recordings must be stored securely, and may be accessed only for investigation and enforcement purposes - for example a fare dispute or an assault - and only by authorised Government personnel and LTA-authorised persons.

[!CAUTION] Your phone is not a permitted recording device. Taxi and private hire car drivers may not use unauthorised recording devices, such as their personal mobile phones, to record audio or video within their vehicles. Propping a phone on the dashboard to film a difficult passenger is exactly the conduct the rules prohibit.

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3. Passenger Notification

Commuters must be able to make an informed choice about riding in a monitored vehicle.

• Notices in the vehicle. A vehicle fitted with an inward-facing IVRD must display notices telling passengers they are being recorded.
• Notification by the operator. Taxi companies offering pre-booking and private hire car booking service operators must inform commuters in advance when the vehicle sent to them has such a device, so that passengers have a choice about whether to take it.

That second duty sits on the operator, not the driver, but it explains why a booking screen sometimes flags a recording-equipped car - and why a driver should never treat a passenger's surprise at a visible camera as unreasonable.

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4. The Offences: All 21 Demerit Points

Every one of these is in the First Schedule to the VLPS Rules at the highest point value, and each on its own exceeds the 20-point revocation threshold.

The Disclosure Offence Is the One Drivers Fall Into

Rule 14D(1) is drafted broadly: it catches disclosing a visual recording of any person or thing, or the occurrence of any incident, within the vehicle. It does not require the passenger to be identifiable, and it does not require malice.

That means posting cabin footage to Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, a forum or a drivers' WhatsApp group is caught - even where the driver believes the passenger behaved badly, even to defend himself against a bad review, and even where he blurs the face. The lawful route is to report the incident to the platform and, where a crime may have been committed, to the Police, and let authorised personnel retrieve the footage.

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5. What To Do When Something Happens

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                 Incident in the Cabin: The Lawful Route                 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1. Ensure immediate safety - stop somewhere public, call 999 if needed   |
|                                    |                                    |
| 2. Report the incident to the platform operator, and file a police       |
|    report if an offence may have been committed                         |
|                                    |                                    |
| 3. Preserve the device untouched - do not extract, copy or edit anything |
|                                    |                                    |
| 4. Authorised Government personnel and LTA-authorised persons retrieve   |
|    the recording for investigation and enforcement                       |
|                                    |                                    |
| NEVER: post it online, send it to a chat group, or show it to a          |
|        journalist - Rule 14D(1) - $500 and 21 demerit points             |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Note also the Personal Data Protection Act 2012, which governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal data in Singapore. Cabin footage is personal data, and the PDPA obligations sit on top of - not instead of - the Road Traffic rules above. For a driver, the practical rule is simpler than the law: the footage is not yours to publish.