Cops Ticketing Cars For Tinted Windows On Williamsburg Bridge

We're nervous over whether our car will get pulled over...(via stylebible)

It's the end of the month, which means it's time for the NYPD to get cracking on filling those ticket quotas which have been lying around all month. Can't just keep going after dead people, sometimes you gotta get them while they're still breathing! To that end, a reader wrote us that cops have been pulling over cars on the Williamsburg Bridge for the past two days to give tickets to people with tinted windshields. Read his account below:

Cops set up a blockade yesterday evening and this morning waving over every car with tinted windows. They'll ask you to roll up your front window half way and stick a meter on it.
In NYS front window can only be tinted to 70%, which is almost nothing. The stock tints on SUVs and minivans is around 20%. If you have that on the front windows you'll get a ticket. My car came with tints, passed inspection and I got the ticket. Looked it up online and there's no getting out of it. In some cases they give tickets for every window so be nice, but I think those back window tickets may be legal. I have rear tints too but they said "we wont ticket you for those" cuz I we're being nice. Either way if you have tinted windows avoid the Wburg bridge.

They use the tint-o-meter. It's not a standard ticket but you have to send a copy of a receipt showing it's been removed within 10 days or you pay a huge fine. I think $90 per window plus $50 "surcharge" per ticket. I got 1 ticket for 2 windows, but I've heard some people getting a separate ticket for each one.

I'm taking the Manhattan Bridge home today. I think TLC is exempt from this.

The reader admits the windows of his Jeep Cherokee do look "quite dark," but in the past, police have called the offense "a safety violation," because eye contact between motorists or between a police officer and a motorist "is paramount." However, you can receive a medical exemption from the NY tint laws, if applicable—check out more info from the DMV here. Call us cynical, but there's also the possibility that cops are using the tinted windshields as an excuse to go fishing for other violations.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on July 28, 2011 2:33 PM

Comments [rss]

sungjiny

yeap this exact thing just happened to me today. I've had the pleasure of having six cars in my lifetime. All tinted pitch black with the exception of one. I've never been pulled over. My girlfriend was driving me to work everyday via williamsburg bridge for months and then all of a sudden they pulled us over to give us a ticket. it sucks. I hate them. i wish there was a way to fight the rule. it's not enough that we have to pay taxes, "gas guzzler tax", inspection fees, registration fees on the car. that's one of the biggest tricks of America...you never could truly own something outright. It's all owned by the government. anyone take a look at their phone bill or paystub lately?

Jay

Ouch. The grammatical errors in this article makes me wonder about the American educational system. But I digress, NYS laws are a little beyond ridiculous. New Jersey allows the back windows to be tinted to any percentage. I drive from Jersey to New York a lot so I am wondering if I should even bother getting my windows tinted at all.

One Way Window Film

That's the great
article! I just pass 'n read it, two thumbs up! ;)

One Way Window Film

I'm so love this
blog, already bookmarked it! Thanks.

Jean-Claude Suffrena

Can I find a good tint supplier in Orlando Florida?

Jean-Claude Suffrena

Can I find a good tint supplier in Orlando Florida?

StaticClingWindowTint

I have not much time, but I've got many useful things here, love it!

mistermarkdavis

These cars keep breaking the law. We need to stop building car lanes for them until they can follow the law.

Emmily_Litella

Finally the cops are making themselves useful. fuck those tinted windows.

Guest

Ben, the enforcement of this law did not begin over the last couple of days. In fact, from Jan 1, 2011 to Jan 30, 2011 the NYPD gave 46,973 tickets for this same offense citywide. Do you plan on writing individual posts on all of them?

xXxMExXx

As long as you have side-view mirrors on both sides of your car, you can do whatever you want to the windows BEHIND the driver. They do not have to even be transparent. The issue is only what is on the side and in front of the driver.

M M

Negative. Check your facts. That rule ONLY applies to SUVs and Trucks.

Passenger cars MUST let in 70% of light on both the front driver's side and passenger's side windows AS WELL AS letting in 70% through the rear driver's side and passenger's side windows.

etypical

Nice is this also why 3 mini cop mobiles pulled up outside my office building yesterday and hang around chatting for 25 minutes while they waiting for alt-side parking to kick in so they could ticket? What a great use of their time.

ButtPlugs

Good shit gothamist, reporting something that's been illegal for years. You can have tinted windows but it depends if the inside of the car is even visible. Stick to bike stories.

jaycjay

Good. I'd like to see this enforced strictly and regularly.

Kate

I agree. Tint is annoying.

When driving, I find it really helpful to be able to take visual cues from the environment -- for example to be able to tell if the driver in front of me is busy yelling at their kids in the backseat, texting, reading a map, looking for a road sign, or actually paying attention to the road. If I can tell that they're distracted, I can give them extra space to do dumb stuff.

M M

*Excessive* tint is annoying.

Something like 50% is still discrete enough to see pretty much everything through, which is why I personally find the 70% law in New York and New Jersey a bit annoying.