How tinted should a car window be? (2)
How tinted should a car window be? (2)
~ About the Law ~
By Cor Merx, attorney at law
I got many reactions and comments on my previous article from last week. I heard that Facebook and Instagram were very active in that way.
Well it seems that these articles (with the intention to explain the law to the public) are working.
In the meantime I got some documents from “official” sites and I started to peruse them.
Let’s go from here.
There is a document from 2001 (AB nr. 4) from the first of February. It was decided by the Island government under the auspice of the Lt Governor in those days.
If I read the considerations I realize that the problem with the tinted windows is not new. As the preacher states in the Bible: “Nothing under this sun is new: everything is already found out.”
From a police officer I heard that he was educated on this issue already in his class in 1997 or 1998.
The “explication” attached to the decision of the Island Counsel states – summarized:
In June and July 1998 there were many complaints about driving with tinted windows. The Lt. Governor in those days received a memo from the police about this issue. Immediately the Lt. Governor decided, after consultations with the Public Prosecutor and the chief of the police, to come with rules and regulations to tackle this issue. In those days the Lt. Governor was the Head of Police. The translucence of the front windows was 40% at the time (today it is 70%).
I am not sure if he could make those decisions by himself but however: it was granted by the Executive Council. Please bear in mind that I told you last week that nowadays the Minister of Economic Affairs is in charge.
Measurement of the translucence was done, back in those days, with an example from tinted glassed pictures that the police compared with what was actually pasted on the window of a car. This way of measuring was very individual and very subjective. It depended on the opinion of the officer whether you got a ticket or not.
So in those days a lot of people got a ticket and were prosecuted but in court it went wrong.
The judge was of the opinion that for the past 10 years (1998) many cars had been imported to the island and were driving around while the government was aware of this situation. The government did not stop a car from getting past inspection with the tinted glasses. The judge continued: if government does not know how the rules and regulations should be followed how can the people on the street know? He found this unfair and told them that they were not guilty. This verdict is too complicated to explain but the result is the same: they got released from the charges. No word about the words: translucence and visibility in the traffic ordinance.
So much ado about nothing because the government was playing with the people and the lawmakers did not do their job in a proper way.
As said before, in 2001 we got new rules and regulations with a specification of the “clear and visibility words” in the Ordinance from the island government.
From there on government went looking for a standard about the translucency in the world. As we are closely connected to the USA they chose the standard from that country and came to a percentage of 70. That’s how we went from 40 to 70 percent. But now the question is: what if I buy a car on the French side with European standards for the windows? Can the (Dutch side) police hand over a ticket to that French or Dutch person?
It was also allowed to have a dark strip of 15 cm at the top of the window. It was not allowed to paste any tinted material on the window.
Last but not least: the most important thing was to name an instrument (equipment) to measure the tinted glass.
For that a new decision was made (2001, nr 13) stating that:
Als deugdelijk apparatuur voor het meten van de lichtdoorlatendheid van ruiten van een motorrijtuig wordt aangemerkt de Pocket Dectective 21 Window Tint Meter van New World Instruments.
But, in the converted Laws in 10-10-10 nothing was taken over from this decision. As I told you before: there is a new decision in place that does not match the old one.
So, only a very jealous woman can see through tinted glasses…….
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