Illegally tinted vehicle windows pose hazard: cyclists
An avid cyclist who’s been hit by a dark-windowed car is calling for an enforcement crackdown on illegal tints that prevent you from making eye contact with the driver.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a crosswalk and I’ve had these cars barrelling up, and you don’t know if they see you or not,” says Anthony Ventimiglia, a member of the Windsor Bicycling Committee, who is on a mission to rid the city of darkly tinted vehicle windows that block a cyclist’s view of the driver.
It’s a problem that’s getting worse, he said, estimating that one in five cars are illegally tinted. When you can’t see the driver, you don’t know if the driver sees you, he said. In his crash, he was riding along a road when a car pulled alongside him. Because of the dark tint he couldn’t see if the driver saw him, as he made a right turn into his bike.
“You need to be able to make eye contact and if you can’t do that you’ve got a problem,” said Ventimiglia, who said it’s not just cyclists who are endangered by these dark tints. It’s also motorcyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders, in line skaters and other motorists. And if you’re hit, the dark window can prevent you from getting a description of the driver before he drives away, he said. “It’s a public safety issue, it’s an enforcement issue, but no one seems to care.”
Ventimiglia is one of several Ward 10 residents who’ve been complaining to Coun. Paul Borrelli about this issue. At Monday’s council meeting, Borrelli asked for a report from police.
“Huge problem, huge problem,” Borrelli said Friday.
He also said that darkly tinted windows enable drivers to get away with distracted driving — texting, making calls under the cover of darkened windows. Distracted driving is to blame for more fatal crashes than any other cause including drinking and driving, according to recent reports.
Borelli said tinted windows aren’t to blame for all distracted driving deaths. “But I think tinted windows don’t help.”
The federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act requires that 70 per cent of light passes through the windshield and front-side windows of passenger vehicles built starting in 2017. But it’s the provincial Highway Traffic Act that controls what’s out on the street. The HTA requires that windows not be tinted so dark that they obstruct the driver’s view out and the view into the car’s interior. It’s a judgment call for the police officer, a Ministry of Transportation spokesman said in an email. Fines can go as high as $500, though the set fine is $110.
“The police do enforce that and we’re very glad of that law, it keeps all of us safe,” said Windsor Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Betteridge. He wasn’t able to immediately provide statistics on the number of over-tinted window charges laid by Windsor Police, but said Friday it’s not a large number, because most motorists comply with the law.
Betteridge said police are big believers that dark tints don’t belong on the road. While they’re unsafe for cyclists, pedestrians and other drivers, they’re also a problem for many other reasons, he said. Clear windows allow witnesses to get a description of a suspect in a car, which helps police investigate crimes. They enable bystanders to see something illegal and report it to police. And they allow police pursuing a fleeing vehicle to identify the driver and call off a chase that’s potentially dangerous.
But Lori Newton, executive director of Bike Windsor Essex, said the tinted window law is not well enforced. “We hear all the time and we experience all the time of very, very often being at an intersection and not being able to make contact with the driver because of tinted windows,” she said.
At Dean’s Auto Shine, owner Dean Gasparini has had many customers ask for “limo film,” which only allows five per cent of light in, and he’s had to turn them down.
“We let them know what the legal limits are for window film and tell them if it’s darker than that they’re going to have a safety issue,” he said, explaining that most customers go with film that allows in 20 per cent of the light.
Ventimiglia said people living in Canada don’t need the dark tint that Floridians demand to keep the heat down in their parked cars. And he fears because so many people like window tints, the law is being “swept under the rug.”
“I know there are limited (police) resources out there, but every time a vehicle is stopped and the tint is too dark, a ticket should be issued,” he said. “The law’s on the books. It’s there for a reason.”