How to Vlog While Driving a Car: Cameras, Mounts, Legalities

I noticed a trend on YouTube recently where many vloggers are recording themselves while driving their cars around town. It seemed natural because we all see car angles like these in the movies all the time, but then it occurred to me that these are vloggers who are filming solo while driving! After researching online for a while, this is what I learned.

To vlog while driving a car you have to use a hands-free camera with a mount, and hit record before you begin moving. It also helps if you plan where you are driving and what you plan on talking about before you begin driving.

If you haven’t tried it before, you can learn more below to save time, stay safe, and stay within the legal limits of handling video cameras while driving.

Planning Your Car Vlog

While driving for many of us seems second nature now, it is easy to forget how complex operating a car can be. The amount of details you have to take into consideration each moment is quite high, so eliminating any unnecessary distractions through proper planning is a must.

WARNING: Vlogging while driving your car can be dangerous for you, your passengers, and others around you. There are, however, a few simple things you can do to protect yourself and others while still getting that shot you need for your vlog.

Here is a list of things you do can before you start vlogging so you don’t have to think about them while you are driving:

Plan Your Car Trip

You don’t need any surprises or confused moments while you are driving. Take a moment to plan out where you will be driving. Visualize the route you will take, which lanes you will drive in, what turns need to be made, and where you will park. I know that may seem silly, but taking 30 seconds to do this one thing will free up your mind from having to make those choices while you drive.

Outline What You Want to Say

The other piece you will want to plan out is what you want to say to your audience. You don’t need to write it out word for word (reading a script while driving would be worse), but you should take a moment to outline the flow of the story or points you want to make. Writing down a few bullet points on paper or in an app will do.

Take a moment to write it down, read it, and rehearse it before you start the engine.

Prepare & Test Your Camera Rig

You do not want to be fiddling with your camera while you are driving, so everything needs to be ready to go. Set up the camera and mount beforehand and even do a test with you in the driver seat while the car is parked. It could make for a good rehearsal of your outline anyway.

Check to make sure the framing is what you want and that the mic is not obstructed. Check the battery life and all the camera settings to make sure everything is ready.

Press Record

Before you begin driving, press record. You should not touch or interact with your camera while you drive. You can edit out the unnecessary footage later if you need to.

Also, do not use your camera’s flip screen (if you have one) so you can see yourself. This can be illegal in many states. Frame the shot before you begin driving, so you can film with confidence without checking your framing every five seconds.

Equipment for Vlogging In a Car

There are a variety of ways to mount a camera in a car, but it does depend on the camera you have. Below I will outline what the most popular combinations of cameras and mounts.

GoPro

GoPro is the best camera to record yourself while driving. Its wide-angle lens is ideal and it is small enough to mount from a number of locations. You can stick one of the standard mounts right onto the dashboard or purchase one of a number of the number of car mounts that are made for the GoPro specifically.

Here are a few different ways you can mount a GoPro to your car:

iPhone or Android Phone

Using a smartphone is also a good camera to use for its size, wide angle lens, and the wide array of cheap mounts already made for the phone to stick to your dashboard or windshield. Be careful to check the laws below to see if it is illegal to use a phone while driving for your age and state. Even if you never touch the phone while you are driving a police officer could have reason to believe you did if the phone is out right in front of you.

Here are a few different ways others have mounted a smart phone to their car.

Point-&-Shoot Cameras

This is about as large as you want to use for vlogging in a car. They do make a few car mounts to either mount this to the windshield or to your dashboard.

DSLR or Mirrorless Cameras

A DSLR is getting large enough that it becomes an awkward piece to mount to your dash. Most vloggers I have seen use gaff tape to stick it onto the dashboard or use their gorilla pod to put the camera on the seat next to them. Either way, they are not ideal setups.

Film students who are using semi-pro gear will often purchase inexpensive car mounts to get realistic driving scenes for their videos. Mounts like the ones below.

Here are a few examples:

Professional Cinema Cameras

These mounts would be overkill and likely require special licensing to, private roads, or some other kind of deal to stay legal, but here are some examples of how the pros get realistic car shots of actors in their films.

Just for fun:

How to Vlog in Your Car Without Breaking the Law

When I considered recording myself while driving, I wondered if I would be breaking the law. The truth is, in some states and some gear setups it is possible that vlogging while driving could be illegal.

Is vlogging while driving illegal? Technically, vlogging while driving is not illegal, but many states DO have laws about cell phone use and distracted driving that vlogging could fall under depending on how you record yourself and manage the process.

To ensure you are not vlogging while driving illegally, check out this chart below.

States	Hand-held ban	All cell phone ban	Texting ban	Enforcement	Crash Data Collection
Alabama	No	Drivers age 16 and 17 who have held an intermediate license for less than 6 months.	All drivers	Primary
Alaska	No	No	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Arizona	No	School bus drivers; Learner’s permit and provisional license holders during the first six months after licensing (effective 6/30/2018)	No	Primary: cell phone use by school bus drivers Secondary: cell phone use by young drivers (effective 6/30/2018)	Yes
Arkansas	Drivers ages 18 to 20 years of age; school and highway work zones	School bus drivers, drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary: for texting by all drivers and cell phone use by school bus drivers. Secondary: for cell phone use by young drivers, drivers in school and work zones	Yes
California	All drivers	School and transit bus drivers and drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary: hand held and texting by all drivers. Secondary: all cell phone use by young drivers.	Yes
Colorado	No	Drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Connecticut	All drivers	Learner’s permit holders, drivers younger than 18, and school bus drivers	All drivers	Primary
Delaware	All drivers	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders and school bus drivers	All drivers	Primary	Yes
District of Columbia	All drivers	School bus drivers and learner’s permit holders	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Florida	No	No	All drivers	Secondary	Yes
Georgia	All drivers	School bus drivers. Drivers younger than 18.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Hawaii	All Drivers	Drivers younger than 18	All Drivers	Primary
Idaho	No	No	All Drivers	Primary	Yes***
Illinois	All Drivers	Learner’s permit holders younger than 19, drivers younger than 19, and school bus drivers	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Indiana	No	Drivers under the age of 21.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Iowa	No	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders	All drivers	Primary: for all offenses (effective July 1, 2017).	Yes
Kansas	No	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Kentucky	No	Drivers younger than 18, School Bus Drivers.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Louisiana	No	School bus drivers, learner’s permit and intermediate license holders, drivers under age 18	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Maine**	No	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Maryland	All drivers, School Bus Drivers.	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders under 18. School bus drivers.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Massachusetts	Local option	School bus drivers, passenger bus drivers, drivers younger than 18.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Michigan	Local option	Level 1 or 2 license holders.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Minnesota	No	School bus drivers, learner’s permit holders, and provisional license holders during the first 12 months after licensing	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Mississippi	No	School bus drivers.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Missouri	No	No	Drivers 21 years or younger.	Primary
Montana	No	No	No	Not applicable	Yes
Nebraska	No	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders younger than 18	All drivers	Secondary	Yes
Nevada	All drivers	No	All drivers	Primary	Yes
New Hampshire	All drivers	Drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary
New Jersey	All drivers	School bus drivers, and learner’s permit and intermediate license holders	All drivers	Primary	Yes
New Mexico	Local option	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders.	All Drivers	Primary	Yes
New York	All drivers	No	All drivers	Primary	Yes
North Carolina	No	Drivers younger than 18 and school bus drivers	All drivers	Primary
North Dakota	No	Drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Ohio	Local option	Drivers younger than 18.	All drivers	Primary: for drivers younger than 18. Secondary: for texting by all drivers.
Oklahoma	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders, school bus drivers and public transit drivers	School Bus Drivers and Public Transit Drivers	All Drivers.	Primary	Yes
Oregon	All drivers	Drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Pennsylvania	Local option	No	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Puerto Rico	All drivers		All drivers	Primary
Rhode Island	All drivers	School bus drivers and drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary	Yes
South Carolina	No	No	All drivers	Primary	Yes***
South Dakota	No	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders	All drivers	Secondary	Yes
Tennessee	Drivers in marked school zones (effective 01/01/18)	School bus drivers, and learner’s permit and intermediate license holders	All drivers	Primary	Yes
Texas	Drivers in school crossing zones	Bus drivers. Drivers younger than 18	All drivers (effective 09/01/2017)	Primary	Yes
Utah	See footnote*	Drivers under the age of 18.	All drivers	Primary for texting; secondary for talking on hand-held phone	Yes
Vermont	All drivers	Drivers younger than 18	All drivers	Primary
Virgin Islands	All drivers				Yes
Virginia	No	Drivers younger than 18 and school bus drivers	All drivers	Primary: for texting by all drivers.   Secondary: for drivers younger than 18.	Yes
Washington	All drivers	Learner’s permit and intermediate license holders.	All drivers	Primary	Yes
West Virginia	All Drivers	Drivers younger than 18 who hold either a learner’s permit or an intermediate license	All drivers	Primary
Wisconsin	No	Learner’s permit or intermediate license holder	All drivers	Primary
Wyoming	No	No	All drivers	Primary	Yes

Source:  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2017. 

The data from table above is not the most up to date information but does provide a primer. So if it currently says something is illegal it is likely still true. If it is not illegal it could have been put into law in the last few years. Google your state name and law like “car cell phone laws in _____ state” to find out.

Here are a few image maps to give the data a visual.