BPS Director sheds light on car tinting law confusion

Public Safety Director Alloysius Alonz clarified in an interview with Island Times on Wednesday that the amendment being pushed in the congress on car tinting law is still on the process and that the current law still applies.

According to Alonz, some vehicle operators are already starting to fix their car according to the talk about the car tinting law amendment that is now being worked out in the Congress.

“The congress is trying to change the law on car’s tinted windows but it is still on the process. It hasn’t been changed. The law today is still as is but sometimes, the public is confused, they think the law has changed already,” Alonz said.

In the current law, a vehicle can have tinted windows that must allow transmission of at least 20 percent of available light through the side and rear windows. The same law specifies that no front windows of a car must be tinted “except that any percentage light transmission tint may be applied along the top edge of the front window so long as it does not extend six inches from the top when measured from the middle point of the bottom edge of the top windshield molding.”

Under the current law, vehicles are also not allowed to have “mirror, reflective, silver tint film” on its any windows.

Owners of cars that have tint that allows between 25 and 35 percent of available light through the side and rear window must also pay a fee of $50 to the Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) while owners of cars that have tint that allows between 20 and 25 percent of available light to the side and rear windows must also pay a fee of $75.

Alonz said that the police are now starting to see cars with tinted windows that do not follow the standard specified by the current law.

“I don’t know if they used that as an excuse that they hear it from the congress to try to get away with it,” Alonz said, explaining further that they are planning to run another talk show on this topic to clarify the issue to the people.

“We just want to emphasize that the law has not changed yet,” Alonz said. (Rhealyn C. Pojas)