window tint

It depends, as it is subject to officer discretion. We all carry tint meters in our patrol cars. I usually don't stop for tint alone, but I know of several officers just on my shift that will initiate a stop if they observe what appears to be an window tint violation. If I stop the vehicle for other reasons (headlight, taillight, tag light, speeding, etc) and the tint looks too dark, I'll check it then.

 

My front windows are probably darker than they should be but the times I have been pulled over I just rolled them both down. I have never been stopped simply for window tint. YMMV

I have heard the fine is $150 but I don't know anyone who is gotten one.

 

Interesting, I'm getting ready to tint windows on a new vehicle and wondered about this very issue. The last time I had windows tinted on my truck, the place that did it made it known that they wouldn't go below the legal level.

 

I believe that the 'permitted by federal law' is laws that specifically state vehicles meeting certain requirements can have the darker tint. Naturally, that includes vehicles used by federal agencies and not us average joes...

 

I believe that it was put on the books in most states to help protect officer safety, so they have a better view in the vehicle. MY policy is to roll down my driver and passenger front windows when I'm pulled over so it isn't an issue. I wish they had written the law that way instead of setting a tint limit. I get the officer safety thing - I just wish it had been implemented in a different way. When I lived in Vermont I intentionally violated the law on the Dodge Stealth I had. Never got a ticket for it. I.m getting a Tahoe I'm going to black out and I'll likely exceed the tint limit again so I can match it to the rest of the tint.

 

I do know from a friend that a doctor's excuse can get you a darker tint. I think it's thru a handicapped placard, but I do know her window tint is darker than the law allows. She's been challenged a few times by cips and won on the side of the road.

Also, don't know if they are still doing it, but Virginia used to pull out of state cars and check their tint. If it was darker than VA law allowed, they would scrape it right there or write the ticket. Your choice. Not sure if they still do it or even if other states do anything similar.

 

I don't see how laws relating to window tint are constitutional, or even desirable on the part of anyone. Why would someone planning on shooting the officer who just pulled them over hold their gun where it's visible from outside the car at all?

 

I suspect the same retarded lack of logic that would make them even contemplate taking a shot at a LEO to begin with...

 

My question is why are the cops allowed to ride around unsafely I might add, with blacked out window tint? What makes them so special? There is no justifiable reason that I have ever heard. More of the "Do as I say, not as I do crap". I say it is unsafe, because I know from my vehicles in the past, that I couldn't see crap at night time out of anything but the windshield. Blacked out windows are unsafe on anyone's vehicle, imo. I would like to see the law changed to like 20%. I think 20 looks good, is functional at reducing light, but yet is not too dark to satisfy a cop's safety needs. I don't think it even matters at night time how much tint you have because it is hard to see in a vehicle without tint anyway, if easing up the side of the vehicle.

 

That's so the privileged few can protect us from our inequality... Ok, I don't what the reasoning is. I presume that there was some justification that it aided law enforcement in some way to have the dark tint, but I still can't see why rolling down the windows when you're pulled over isn't adequate.

 

Same reason as every other ridiculous rule exception: you're automatically labeled a bad person if you speak up against anything the police want or say. Same reason police can do a no-knock entry on the wrong house, shoot the home owner because he or she responded with a weapon to a home invasion, and then not go to prison. Same reason they can steal your identity and give it to an undercover officer and not go to prison.

 

It is very difficult to see inside of a vehicle with dark tinted windows at night even when you're flashing a light into the window on a traffic stop. The most you might be able to make out is a silhouette. I do not support any LEO exemption from this law though. What's good for one should be good for all, but sadly they never called me when they were writing the law. That being said, it is very useful for undercover / plain clothes use which would be made even more difficult without it.

 

Make sure you don't have a GCO sticker on your car.. I heard that your limit is zero percent if you get pulled over

 

Chances of getting stopped for it are slim. I've been stopped once in the past 6 years after getting my windows tinted. It was on I-16 and the small town cop pulled me over "for my tint" but was actually trying to find drug runners (I gathered that from the 5 minutes of questions about if I had any illegal drugs or large amounts of cash in the car with me). Got a ticket for the tint in the end, was a couple years ago now but at the time I think the fine was $125 including court costs. FTR, my tint is darker than yours. The comfort of having the tint is worth a ticket every five or six years for me.