Police blitz on tinted windows (From Gazette & Herald)

Police blitz on tinted windows

NORTH Yorkshire Police has taken a dim view of tinted car windows and is planning to crack down on boy-racers and cruisers with a new light-measuring device.

Sgt Paul Stephenson, of the eastern area road policing group, is seeking sponsorship from a Ryedale company or an individual for £500 so it can buy a Tintman, a hand-held instrument that measures the percentage of light getting through tinted glass.

The device, manufactured by Turnkey Instruments, will help officers to order motorists with blacked-out windows that impair vision and therefore pose an accident risk to change them or face tough penalties.

Drivers with windows that are too dark - those that do not allow 70 to 75 per cent of light through - will have to have the vehicle "repaired" or they could face fines of hundred of pounds.

However, in extreme cases, fixed penalty notices could be issued, or even a prohibition notice that means the car can then be moved only by a breakdown truck until the required changes have been made.

Sgt Stephenson said: "Anybody who's coming through this area with heavily tinted windows is a potential danger to anybody else who's on the road.

"It's like driving with sunglasses on at night. If we can buy a Tintman then we can prosecute, replace the illegal windows and make the vehicle safer.

"Legally, tinted windows are subtle and most that look dark are likely to be illegal and pose an unnecessary accident risk."

At night, some drivers of cars with tinted windows have to wind their windows down simply because they cannot see.

The device will also be used to measure the amount of light passing through tinted motorcycle helmets.

Tinting determines the amount of light that gets through the windows into the vehicle. This is known as the Visible Light Transmission (VLT).

Legislation states the minimum VLT is 75 per cent for windscreens and 70 per cent for front side windows. The average is around 30 to 40 per cent, but if vehicles have tinted side windscreens in addition to their front then the level of visibility is greatly reduced, which can be especially dangerous when motorists are checking the road is clear at T-junctions.

Updated: 10:07 Friday, May 14, 2004