‘Cool factor’ in tinted car windows costly
Police ticket thousands of area drivers this year
Local authorities say the “cool factor” of dark tinted windows is costing some drivers $100 or more for violating Tennessee’s window-tinting laws.
Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies have written 2,110 tinted- or cracked-window violations since January, and more than half were warnings. They were unable to separate the two as both fall under the same county ordinance.
Memphis Police ticketed 1,947 drivers for the same period. Similarly, suburban police officers have written 635 such tickets in Bartlett, 138 in Collierville and 32 in Germantown.
“People from all walks of life get their windows tinted. It looks cool for some people. The majority aren’t trying to conceal anything,” said Bartlett Police Capt. Marlon Jones. When stopped, he said drivers sometimes say they are unaware of the tinting laws or bought the car with an added tint.
Car companies also run ads that often show the dark tinted windows to make the lines of the vehicle stand out, said International Window Film Association legislative consultant Lynwood Butner of Martinsville, Va.
“A driver will say, ‘I want a limo tint on my car.’ That creates problems with the industry,” he said. “That’s why we support the enforcement laws.”
The Tennessee law requires that car windows must allow at least 35 percent of light through. Other states percentages vary with Mississippi requiring a total of 28 percent and Arkansas mandating 25 percent of light passing through.
Not counting court costs, the law allows a fine of up to $50 and/or 30 days in jail. If the fine is paid before a court date, tint violators pay $42.75 in Memphis, $98.75 in Bartlett, $145.25 in Germantown and $151.50 in Collierville.
Bartlett Court Clerk Bill Lloyd said the majority pay without going to court. “They hope nobody stops them again,” he said. “They don’t want to answer the judge’s question, ‘Have you done anything to correct it?’”
Traffic court judges will often send an officer to see if the tint is still on the vehicle before a ticket is dismissed.
Collierville police rely on two tools when handing out tickets. One is a business-size card that is half-white and half-tinted to the allowable state limit. Their backup is a tint meter enforcer that reads the amount of light coming through a window.
“If it (car window) is darker than the card, then it is in violation,” said Collierville Police Lt. Hal Banks.
Added Collierville Police Capt. Sean Williams: “The burden of proof is on the vehicle operator to prove that is not illegal.”
At least 43 companies tint windows in the Memphis area. “Window-tinting tickets are easy money. It generates income for the
city,” maintained co-owner Shonna Burfield with Xlnt Window Tint in Cordova, which she runs with her husband, Bert Burfield. “It doesn’t go on the driver’s license point system. Most people don’t fight it.”
Bert Burfield said, “If one of my customers gets pulled over, I’m usually the first one to find out.”
He estimated in the past few months 10 customers have requested letters from him that he installed a tint that meets the state’s legal limit.
Tennessee’s window-tinting laws date back to 1982. But the Burfields say police didn’t get aggressive about ticketing drivers until five years ago.
Most states, including Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi allow for a medical or vision-related exemption for tinted windows. A person with lupus, sunlight allergy, melanoma or other conditions that require limited sunlight exposure can seek an exemption through the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security or their respective state departments.
Often, the Burfields say, police officers have tinted windows installed on their personal vehicles. Window-tinting businesses and the police agree that windows tinted too dark are a safety issue.
“It’s pretty unnerving when officers walk up to a car and it’s night time and they can’t see inside,” said Capt. Jones of Bartlett.
“We ride motorcycles,” Burfield said. “Drivers with blacked out windows can’t see us.” He said he recently totaled his bike because the driver had blacked-out windows. The driver, however, wasn’t ticketed for a tinted window violation, but for failure to yield.
The Burfields acknowledge that some customers insist on the darkest tint possible no matter what. Shonna Burfield said they warn the customers: “It is a ticket waiting to happen.”