Robin got nailed speeding the other day. While she was pulled over, the police officer told her that her window tint wasn’t legal. I’ve seen various people quoting 30% as the limit here in Pennsylvania, but I’ve looked over the laws and I can’t find anything to indicate that. One thing that the law does say is that window tint from the factory is exempt, and the car was delivered that way. Further, she has had the car inspected 5 times and the tint has never come up as an issue. Not once.
We’re thinking about challenging this warning (which will become a citation if we don’t remove the tint). Can anybody come up with a reason why we shouldn’t, or why it’s a lost cause? From what I’ve seen there’s no way we can lose based solely on the laws.
I think there is a small line marked on the windshield glass near the driver’s side column, a few inches down from the top, which represents some kind of legal limit on how far down the glass the tinting may extend. Could this be it, rather than the darkness of the tint?
I’ve got the written warning right here and there is no statute or regulation cited.
What the cop did was put a meter on the window. The meter reading said “43%” which can’t be right, since the tinting is rated at 35% and has a decal saying so.
The cop wasn’t interested in the windshield (which was replaced about a year or two ago and so complies with PA law, if that exists). He was interested in the driver’s and passenger’s windows.