Hawaii has given away 1,000 free dashcams to drivers to give its Department of Transportation 'eyes on the road'
Published on Dec 06, 2025 at 8:18 PM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Dec 04, 2025 at 9:35 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
The Hawaii Department of Transportation is giving away 1,000 free dashcams to motorists as part of its ‘Eyes on the Road’ program, which will be used to make roads safer.
Thousands of vehicles head out onto Hawaii roads and highways every day.
Unfortunately, with so many cars on the roads, accidents can and do happen, with data showing that between 2019 and 2022, traffic fatalities increased by 14 percent.
Now, officials have launched the new ‘Eyes on the Road’ program in a bid to make Hawaiian roads safer.
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The free dashcams will work alongside AI to make roads safer
The program will see the Hawaii Department of Transportation hand out dashcams, which would usually cost around $499, to the public for free.
The aim of the dashcams is to record roads as drivers use them to create a digital version of Hawaii’s road network.
These images are then uploaded to a cloud network and will be analyzed by AI to spot any maintenance or repair issues, such as potholes, paint line visibility, or damaged road signs.
If any problems are spotted, the Department for Transport will be notified, and a maintenance crew can be dispatched to get it fixed.
“We have inspectors running through the system regularly, but we don’t see everything that everybody else does,” Director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation Ed Sniffen told KHON2.
“If we have dash cams on the system and have an AI system to run through that data, we can get to our damaged facilities very quickly.”
The cameras will also help cut down dangerous driving
And the cameras won’t just be used for road maintenance, they will also help crack down on dangerous driving.
If a motorist’s camera captures any instance of reckless driving, they can quickly and easily submit the clip to the authorities by using an app on their phone.
“The data that comes out of the dashcams is going to be pulled in by the Department of Transport and by police and prosecutors, so we can review and see how we take action on it,” Sniffen said.
The Department of Transport has also stressed that privacy is protected and that audio is not recorded.
Those who are sign up are free to leave at any time.
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
