Window Tinting

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  • August 17, 2016 at 7:22 pm #1057704
    mstone
    Participant

    @elbows 144584 wrote:

    Is it legal to operate a vehicle with the front seat side windows so tinted that one cannot see the occupants of the vehicle? I know I’ve been in a situation a few times recently where I was riding somewhere and could not see into the car from the side when I wanted to confirm a driver saw me. I can not remember the exact details, to be honest, but the question remains.

    I found the below but still wasn’t sure.

    http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/glass-window-tinting/

    no need, you can assume that they’re going to drive like an a-hole

    August 17, 2016 at 7:26 pm #1057705
    TwoWheelsDC
    Participant

    DC has the strictest laws, but VA’s are relatively strict. I think MD’s are the least strict. None of them allow for full opacity, however, although a lot of shops will do some dark-ass tinting. I think it’s treated as one of those things where, if a cop wants an excuse to pull someone over, they can cite that, but otherwise they don’t seem to care. Now that DC doesn’t have a safety inspection for vehicles, I don’t think there’s much enforcement at all, but in VA you can still fail an inspection for tinting that’s too dark.

    August 17, 2016 at 7:33 pm #1057706
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    As someone who from time to time rides in door zone bike lanes, I abhor tinted windows. Clear windows give me at least some possibility of seeing if there is someone in a vehicle, who might open a door, and thus improving my odds somewhat. Thankfully I have not yet been doored, but I know riding in such bike lanes is playing the odds, and the existence of tinted windows makes it harder to turn the odds more in my favor.

    August 18, 2016 at 1:23 pm #1057733
    Sunyata
    Participant

    @TwoWheelsDC 144586 wrote:

    Now that DC doesn’t have a safety inspection for vehicles, I don’t think there’s much enforcement at all, but in VA you can still fail an inspection for tinting that’s too dark.

    This is incorrect. Window tinting darker than 50% on the front side windows, while illegal (without a medical waiver), will not fail your vehicle for a Virginia inspection. With regards to inspection, the windows, if present, must be unbroken and the driver side window must go up and down, but tinting/opaqueness is not something they inspect for.

    However, you can get pulled over and cited for too dark of tint by law enforcement. It happens more than you think and every patrol officer carries a tint meter in their vehicle. Unfortunately, many people just pay the fine and never take the tint off the windows. :confused:

    August 18, 2016 at 8:14 pm #1057745
    Anonymous
    Guest

    BF had to get tint removed to pass inspection and get tags on an SUV he bought in MD. I think they offered to retint it for him after it passed. Or possibly they just offered to refer him to somewhere that would, I don’t exactly remember the story. So, not legal, but not exactly rigorously enforced.

    August 18, 2016 at 9:10 pm #1057747
    GovernorSilver
    Participant

    @mstone 144585 wrote:

    no need, you can assume that they’re going to drive like an a-hole

    If I see a car with heavily tinted windows, I pretty much treat it like a taxi – don’t expect predictable, let alone courteous, behavior.

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