How tinted should a car window be?
How tinted should a car window be?
~ About the Law ~
By Cor Merx, attorney at law
I received many requests to write something about a “hot” issue: Tinted Vehicle Window Glasses.
I will first give my opinion about tinted windows. My car came with tints straight from the factory. I do not know if it gives 70% of the light that should come in.
I remember in 2001 when I came to Sint Maarten I saw a lot of tinted (or dark) vehicle windows. I had never seen that in my life before and innocent as I was I thought it was the SXM-way to stay cool driving a car. So: no problem: so many countries, so many customs.
When I started working as a prosecutor I got some remarks from my colleagues in the Tripartite that those tinted windows in most cases were used to commit crimes and to leave a scene unidentified. At that moment we decided to start putting out rules and regulations. I remember we got some help from Mike Ferrier at that time because he became a commissioner. Anyhow, that is a little history about the tinted windows.
I now come to the much complicated part of the whole issue: is it legal or illegal?
The Traffic Ordinance states that every “rijtuig” (let’s stick with a car) needs to have a mirror to look at the left side of the driver. Attention: we do not need any more mirrors!
The Traffic Ordinance also states that the glass of the window of a car must have a clear vision (transparency). But in that Ordinance we do not find any explanation about: how clear or how transparent a window should be to provide a clear view.
Therefore we have the Landsbesluit containing general indications about: how clear the view through a window of a car should be. The traffic ordinance gives the possibility for the Minister (from Economic Affairs, not Justice) to come with specific rules or regulations that fill the gaps in the law.
The problem however is: I found two regulations on that issue: One is from 2001 (from the Island Council from those days) and the other that was converted in 2010. Both are quite different. So the question now is: which one is valid and which one has priority over the other.
But besides the difference in the text I did not find any clues about punishment. How punishable is it if you committed this crime (or is it a misdemeanor?).
Article 1 of our Criminal law says: no act is punishable if it has not been written down in the law and if it does not have a punishment for it.
So where is the punishment? I could not find any documents and for that reason I questioned some officers but they could not give me the answer.
So, what is going on here?
In one of the aforementioned documents it is stated that the transparency of a window is good if the translucence (the way the light can come through the window) is:
A: 70 percent of the front window and the side windows in front or next to the driver (seat)
B: 40 percent of the back window or the side windows behind the driver (seat).
As I said before: we have two pieces of legislation on this issue stating the same percentages but the “old one” has more. It is not allowed to paste something on the window that gives an effect that is in violation with the 70 and 40 percent rule.
Which one should be followed?
Let me state some other problems on this issue,
Does a car have side windows in front of the driver? Where are they? Or is it just: the windows at the left and right side of the driver’s seat.
The same issue for the back windows. A back window is a back window and is not a side window at the back of the driver. The law is not very clear on that point.
Another point: at what time of the day do controls go into effect? Is the transparency during the day the same as at night time? What equipment can measure 70 percent translucency at night?
According to the law you need one mirror at the left side to view the space at the left side at the back of the driver’s seat.
If you have more than 40 percent of the back window tinted black then you need an extra mirror on the right side. If you have one already on the right side (most of the cars usually come with it) you will never get a fine for having a 40 percent or more back tinted window.
I will continue next week with some more explanations.
