Committee hears safety, enforcement concerns as bill would allow 30% window tint

Summary

Vermont State Police told the House Transportation Committee that a proposal in S.123 to authorize 30% window tint raises operational safety concerns, enforcement challenges and equipment costs, and that outreach and data collection might be better handled by highway-safety offices than by troopers.

Lieutenant Paul Raval of the Vermont State Police told the House Transportation Committee on April 30 that the S.123 miscellaneous motor-vehicles bill’s proposed 30% allowable window tint would create enforcement and safety trade-offs for police and inspection stations.

The testimony focused on three problems, Raval said: (1) safety for drivers and officers when very dark tint limits visibility, (2) the cost and calibration burden of devices needed to measure tint reliably in court, and (3) inconsistent results when inspection stations warn drivers but do not fail vehicles for tint while police issue citations later.

Raval, executive officer of the State Police special operations unit, described tint as an “operational safety issue” even if not a mechanical defect. “If you have a certain level of window tint, you have to roll your window down to see,” he said, adding that officers have stopped vehicles where the driver told them they needed to roll the window down to be visible. He said that makes vehicle stops longer and…

Committee hears safety, enforcement concerns as bill would allow 30% window tint

Summary

Subscribe to keep reading