Re: Window Tinting in Pennsylvania

Aug 12, 2003 1 Replies
D

I believe the tinting regulations only apply to the windshield and front side windows. There is a limit to the darkness, too, but I've seen some awfully dark side windows - it seems they only care about the windshield. As a runner, it makes crossing intersections in front of cars a very scary and deadly thing. (When a driver wants to make a right on red, they usually don't look at me coming from the right, and dark side windows make this very dangerous because I can't tell if they've seen me)



No, the cops aren't strict on it, and I don't think they ever pull someone over for that as their cause. There are drivers all over with those darkly tinted licence plate covers, which I personally find ridiculously irresponsible and frankly I think those drivers should be pulled over immediately for it. These are the mf'rs who will pull a hit/run because they know they can't get ID'd. But I digress.



Dave



I'm moving to Pennsylvania from far west Texas and taking my Maxima
> with me. To help survive the desert sun I have aftermarket window
> tint installed, Texas legal.
>
> Does anyone from PA have window tinting installed? I understand PA
> state law requires only that tinting not prevent viewing the interior
> of the vehicle. But apparently Pennsylvania cops have very poor
> vision so PENNDOT has a liberal opinion of what will prevent viewing.
> They require at least 70% transmissivity whereas most other states
> require 35% (curiously, 35% will pass safety inspection in PA... go > figure).
>
> Any/all PA drivers: I'm looking for the practical side of this... how
> many people have tinting? how strict are cops at enforcing PENNDOT's
> _opinion_ vs. the actual law? do the cops generaly use this only as
> an excuse to pull cars over and look for probable cause? (and then
> search the vehicle, roust the occupants, etc.).
>
> I'm afraid I'll have to remove it. Since PA doesn't have west Texas'
> solar radiation level it's not so big a deal, especially for the
> front/rear side windows. But the rear window is a concern with it's > defroster.
>
> Thanks
> BuddyWh
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H

This isn't stictly true. There is a kid in Lancaster who racked up thousands in fines by constantly retinting his windows, and the cops are very strict with him, now because they know him. Here in Philadelphia, you don't see alot of window tinting and that's largely due to fairly strict enforcement. The city here also has the new "live stop" program where they go to very heavily traffic jammed areas and walk down the cars ticketing for registration problems, blown light bulbs, whatever shows on the outside of the car that is in violation of the law. I am certain that that would include tinted windows.

The allowable tint in Pennsylvania is sort of determined as "an amount up to the point that the interior becomes obscured". The police see this as "obscured" at night, in bad light, so it's a fairly low amount of allowable tint.

I believe that it is still totally illegal in PA to tint the windshield; it goes back and forth in the legislature. That's because they see it as a possible contributor to accidents. The law for the other windows is to protect police when they stop a car so they can be assured of being able to see into a car as they approach it. The police take this law to heart.

As for enforcement, I would think that Buddy would only have a problem if he is moving to Philadelphia, York, Chester, Harrisburg . . . or any of the really impoverished urban areas. If he isn't, then he'll probably be OK, but it is something that you can be stopped for in PA.

Very few. I actually saw a guy last week with it, and it was uncommon enough that I was pretty surprised.

how strict are cops at enforcing PENNDOT's

See above, but the live stop program really is only to roust out people who have no insurance and illegally registered car. Quite a problem around these parts, however, I have watched people be rousted at those stops for EVERYTHING.

Best of luck. Sorry. I hope that you enjoy the state better than its beginning. Best of luck -

H
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