Window Tint Laws

[samdajellybeenie14]

Is it just me or does it bother you that what is considered legal window tint in one state (take New Mexico, for example, where the legal VLT% is 20%) is illegal in another state like Louisiana (where the VLT% is 40%). Maybe that is not quite what I wanted to say, so I'll say it another way: A friend of mine was taking a road trip from New Orleans to San Diego. About a half hour after he entered California with Louisiana-legal 40% tint on his 2 front windows, he got a window tint ticket. When he tried to explain to the officer that the tint was legal in Louisiana and that he didn't understand why California wouldn't honor that due to the full faith and credit clause, the officer just told him that he could go fight it in court, but that he probably would lose. He ended up losing and was out several hundred bucks as I recall. Sucks. My real question is: Why isn't Louisiana-legal window tint recognized as legal by California if my friend is not a resident of California?
By the way, he also got a ticket for not having a front license plate.


Also, say someone gets a Louisiana medical window tint exemption. If he goes to, say, Maryland (whether just driving through, staying for college, becoming a permanent resident, etc.), could he still be ticketed for illegal window tint according to Maryland tint laws? Wouldn't the other state (because it is a medical necessity for him to have according to a doctor licensed to practice medicine in LA) recognize the LA exemption's legality and not make him get Maryland state exemption? Seems like a lot of trouble for nothing to me. And please don't start with the whole "window tint laws are made to protect the police; OP just wants illegal window tint" nonsense. Relax - this is purely hypothetical (I do, however, comply to the fullest extent of the law regarding window tint).

 

[Quatre Coureur]

In California there is NO tint that is legal at all on the driver or front passenger windows. None. After that anything goes. U can Limo-tint the rest for all they care. Cops like to see what the F you're doing when they walk up to ur car. At least here in Cali, when there were a bunch of shootings a few years ago. :gun6:

 

[hearno]

Reasoning stated above is correct. It is for a police officer's safety. Just because you don't mean an officer any harm doesn't mean the idiot next to you isn't trying to hide/get the drop because he has warrants/dope/etc.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Colorado cops rarely enforce tint laws but since I have mine past the legal limit I just make sure my windows on the side the officer is walking up to are all down and I have all my paperwork in hand and on the wheel and the cop never notices the tint.

 

[JayceeP]

I find that law annoying. Here in Nova Scotia no tint is allowed on the front windows and I think most provinces in Canada are this way. Simple solution: Anyone with a criminal record cannot get tint work done by a shop. If you want it, $15 from the police station for a background check and provide proof to the shop doing the work. Place substantial fines on those who violate or have a criminal record and tint on the front windows. Most people don't have tint anyway so I can't see if being a big enforcement issue.

I don't think that law abiding citizens should be penalized because 1% of the drivers want tint for malicious reasons as one poster suggested.

 

[samdajellybeenie14]

I agree that tint laws are for the safety of officers and even though I have no intention of harming an officer (police officers scare me actually, go figure) I can definitely understand why they exist. My uncle's a police officer and he says that he's always pretty scared when he stops a vehicle with tint that he can't see through.

Anyone have any idea about my second question? I would think that the full faith and credit clause would cover medical exemptions like it does driver's licenses, but I also think that because tint is a post manufacture aftermarket thing that is entirely up to the owner to install, but having a driver's license if you drive is mandatory.

 

[Logan714]

Honestly, he probably got a douche bag cop. My windows aren't tinted in accordance with california laws but that's because my truck is registered in Arizona. If he was just visiting the state I think it's horribly unrealistic for every single vehicle to comply with the local law. That doesn't make any sense.

 

[Jeff Kleb]

Window Tint


Window tint laws do vary greatly from state to state. The trick is in how they are word the law. VA, for instance, states that "No vehicle shall be operated on a highway or public road in the commonwealth..... so that it applies to any car or truck registered here or just passing through.

The "full faith and credit" stuff doesn't really apply because window tint is not really seen as a judicial proceeding, act, writ or warrant. Having a driver's license or marriage certificate from one state and expecting other states to honor it is one thing....but vehicle equipment violations are a little bit different.

In New York and New Jersey, volunteer firefighters can sometimes run blue lights on their personal cars -- but would not be allowed to drive with them on in MD or VA (as blue lights are reserved for law enforcement vehicles only).

That being said, giving a ticket to an out-of-state person just passing through is pretty much a 'chicken sh*t' move in my book.

Now, as for the 'full faith and credit' clause of the US Constitution, my concealed handgun permit is a "judicial proceeding" from a circuit court judge. Shouldn't MD, DC, NY, NJ and other anti-gun states be forced to honor it? I won't hold my breath.