DriveSmartBC - Window Tinting Films
 

Window tinting looks cool, keeps your vehicle interior cool, or hides your vehicle contents from potential thieves. The drawback with tinting certain windows is that it limits the driver's ability to see and be seen. It is also illegal and may result in enforcement action in the form of either a ticket or a repair order.

One of the rules of defensive driving is to make eye contact with other drivers. A wise pedestrian will also make eye contact with a driver to insure that they have been seen before walking in front of a vehicle. This is impossible for other drivers and pedestrians if you have darkened side windows.

Studies indicate that seniors are particularly affected by window tinting. Their ability to identify and react to low contrast targets is significantly compromised by the light transmission restriction of the film. This applies to a lesser extent to all of us, regardless of age.

The Motor Vehicle Act Regulations are very specific about any film that reduces the light transmitted by a window. You will note that there is no mention of how light or dark the film is. If it reduces the light transmitted in any way, it may only be applied on certain windows of the vehicle.

Film may be applied to the top three inches of the windshield or to any of the side windows behind the driver's shoulders. The film may also be applied to the rear window if the vehicle is equipped with an outside mirror on both sides. Film must not be applied to the windows of the driver and front passenger doors.

Reference Links

Hi sir, what if the car came with tinted windows? Such as previous owner's or the newer car models these days, they usually have it or comes with it. So what level of percentage can you have for driver or passenger side tinted windows? I mean the main reason people put them on is because of their identity or either to protect there vehicle from thieves looking into it. I do think that people are aloud to have some privacy or protection for their personal rights in this country, hope you can answer this question sir.

thank you

unless it is smoked glass (tinted when it was manufactured, and is the factory glass) then no tinting is allowed on any of the front 3 windows.

If its on the driver or front passenger side windows, you'll either have to remove it or risk the Violation Tickets/Notice and Order fix-it tickets that come with having front tint.

As for "protecting your identity", having front tint is not going to protect your identity.

Skidmark, you sure know how to open the pot for stirring :p

but in an accident, it will protect you as the whole tinted glass would shatter just one piece instead of many resulting shards shattering at your face and body

You can refer to the other tinting thread for the study/article that I referenced, but yes, laminated glass does reduce the amount of airborne dust and glass fragments that are projected towards the driver, which is why some cars are now coming with laminated safety glass for the front side windows. Tint film, while not the same product, can reduce the chance of being injured by these projectiles. I wouldn't want to take the chance of getting glass dust behind my eye ball.

Actually... if your head were to go thru part of the side window... it's just like not wearing your seatbelt and your head going thru the windshield partially.... you'd really hate the lamination then, when it's tearing through your throat.

Automotive glass is safety glass for a reason... it breaks into small pieces (not shards) so it doesn't impale you and get lodged into parts of your body.

Anyone who uses the dust as a reason to tint the windows is just plain ignorant.

I've made eye contact with pedestrians before, so I can relate to that one... but I can't relate to the defensive driving one at all. In what circumstances would you ever make eye contact with another driver, especially when related to defensive driving? :confused:

The only scenario I can even think of is looking over at the car beside you while stopped at a light... but can't think of any instance where I would make eye contact while actually driving.

Your saying you dont try to make eye contact with other drivers at uncontrolled intersections, or 4 way stops? Parking lots? Flashing reds? Turning right to make sure the dumbass turning left doesn’t pull a double lane change and hit you? People are a lot easier to read if you can catch there eyes, and they become more aware of you and what your doing, as well as you can read if they are about to pull an idiot much better that way.

Unless you're on a motorcycle, they'll look straight at you and not see you

Something else to think about: tempered (safety) glass fragments arent very sharp (they do have a bit of an edge, but they're nothing like annealed or untempered). Film affects the way the glass breaks, so if you were to get hit from the side and put your head through the side window I would MUCH rather have straight up tempered glass than lammi, or a combo there of.
I would also much rather have a superficial scratch on the surface of my eye than have a broken neck

I don't see how your head would get stuck in the glass. If you hit it, it should simply fold away to the outside. Curtain air bags also provide a protective barrier between the face and glass.

From a document referenced in my post here


Those are direct quotes from a document found on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

Please find me a study that supports the belief that tinted glass is a hazard when it is broken.

Your quotes are talking about laminated glass designed and engineered with safety in mind [they're two thinner panes of glass laminated with a layer of PVB (generally speaking) sandwiched in between] I dont know if the glass they're testing is annealed, tempered or what, but the laminated safety glass is completely reengineered and a totally different animal than tint film on tempered.

Most window tint film is made of polyester. Guess what they make security window film out of? Polyester
You can beat the crap out of a piece of glass with security film on it with a crowbar and it wont break. Security films go from ~100 micrometers thick up, tint films sit around 50 micrometers, somehow I think theres the potential for increased resilience in the glass with essentially half a layer of security film

Actually, I thought that the topic had been beaten to death in this forum when I posted the article. It wasn't on my web site and I felt that it needed to be, so it became the topic of the week.

If you are talking tint built into the glass instead of applying it like a film, the glass needs to conform to ANSI Standard Z26, which means that front side glass must be grades AS-1, AS-2, AS-10 or AS-11.

Yes, they are. They also include discussion regarding tempered safety glass and the hazards it can present to the driver when broken.

Now that I'm looking for it, I can't find the article. It was a few years ago, how a teenager tinted his front side windows, got T-boned, and was basically decapitated by the window tint. The window frame kept the glass in place, the tint holding the glass bits in place sliced thru his neck.

But you know what? It doesn't f'n matter if I can't find it or not. You know why? Because tinting the front windows is illegal, period. End of discussion.

What about vehicles without framed windows?


It is permitted in the majority of US states as well as in other industrialized first world countries. Surely the same film cannot be considered deadly in Canada while in the US it is perfectly safe.

that was common when they first introduced laminated winshields.
I think it was something to do with the layer of PVB being too thin so if you hit the windshield with your head it would push trough the windshield and you'd get a nice glass collar.

Laws arent perfect, they may have other reasoning behind it. Look at our cellphone laws that are coming into play for example, hands free devices produce almost the same amount of drivers distraction as holding the cellphone, yet they're only banning having the phone in hand.

I looked through it briefly, they overexagerate how sharp tempered glass is for starters. Advocating aftermarket tint film is safer than leaving your windows as is is the same idea as advocating adding a 4 or 5 point racing harness in an otherwise stock car because its safer. You may have some benefits in some areas, but theres potentially huge tradeoffs in another.
Jlenko pointed out something I'd forgotten about
Having the shrapnel effect from a broken tempered unit will generally speaking result in fairly minor injuries. In a more serious side impact where you put your head through the side window (providing in breaks with similar force) the window can hold together and get the glass aside from where your head goes through it and badaboom, glass collar.

Oh, come on. Let's compare other useless laws while you're at it... drug possession nets you a jail term in the US. Distribution equals the death penalty in some states.

Have you ever smoked pot? Or had friends that did? Would you prefer to go to the USA and abide by the same laws they have there, putting yourself in detention or your friends.. or to death?

C'mon.. if you want side window tint THAT BAD... go move there, and stop crying about it here. ;)

Nope. Couldn't care less about their drug laws.

Um... no? You can clearly enough that you can make eye contact with a driver that's across the intersection? Hmm, interesting. No, I've never done that.

You never look at other drivers to make sure they have seen you before making a move that could put you directly in their path of travel? I find it hard to believe you have never been involved in a collision.

I look at their vehicle to see what they're going to do, but definitely fall short of making eye contact.

I've driven like a dozen years and have Roadstar. I don't think I've even been close to getting into a collision as a result of not making eye contact or because of a misjudgement of what someone else is going to do.

I usually only make eye contact when I'm a pedestrian or if I'm turning right and there's a pedestrian. In my car, I don't usually make eye contact with someone in another car. I will look and see if the driver looked my way or not sometimes depending on the situation or look for signs from the driver, but never have eye had to make eye contact with another driver while driving. However, I do not like it when people have front window tint as I can't see them, even as a pedestrian, I can't always tell if the person sees me or not.