Abstract: The present invention provides to a recording apparatus and method for recording data, in particular video data associated with a vehicle. Video data are only recorded, as long as a predefined trigger event is true. Upon detecting such a trigger event, the trigger event is further analyzed and the recording of the video data is immediately stopped when it is detected that the trigger event is no longer valid. In this way, the recording of the video data can be limited for reducing the amount of video data to be stored. According to further embodiments, the amount of video data to be recorded can be further minimized by adapting the video frame rate, the resolution, and compression rate or color format of the video data.