State of NC suddenly VERY STRICT on vehicle window tint...

RobLupella · **Posted:** Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:36 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

Vincent Keene wrote:

Brian Marks wrote:

This is true, but law abiding citizens generally don't get stopped or, if they do, they know to roll down tinted windows and present themselves properly. The scumbags don't care about tint laws anyway, so the point is relatively moot methinks.

Brian is correct IMO. The cop can easily use the loudspeaker to tell you to roll down the windows, if you haven't done so already. Besides, what about the rear passengers of a legally factory tinted SUV? I guess none of those passengers carry weapons? I'm sure he would ask those windows be lowered so what's the difference?

I had an old man ask me once "Why do you have dark windows in that car? Do you have something to hide?" My reply was "Why do you have blinds in your house?" Same principle IMO.

Brian, if your tint is too dark, then you aren't abiding by the law, right? :wink:

As a law-abiding citizen, I did not know I should roll my windows down. I have, in fact, been told by RPD not to roll down my window until the officer is at my window so that I can verify he/she is, in fact, a police officer and not someone impersonating a cop. Of course, I have legal tint, so maybe that's different... :wink:

Everyone has their opinion, but the dude or dudette with the gun and badge will trump what you think every time. And your car vs house analogy fails in the key aspect that cars do not have the same degree of search/seizure protection as homes do. "Probable cause" can be, depending on the scenario, the presence of illegal tint. You're obviously free to ride dirty with illegal tint, but understand that you will likely be treated differently than folks who are legal.

I agree. If I was a cop and stopped a car where I couldn't see where the driver's hands were I would then want to have to treat them like they had a weapon every time I stopped them. Then people would complain the cops treat them like criminals....

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:24 am

Steven Carter wrote:

Everyone has their opinion, but the dude or dudette with the gun and badge will trump what you think every time.

It must be nice to have the power to be 'right' 24/7. Stephen got a seat belt ticket even though he was wearing one. The officer claimed he wasn't wearing one, so clearly he was right...as always. IIRC, Stephen's case was dropped, but only after he went to court THREE times and missed three days of work in the process.

Steven Carter wrote:

You're obviously free to ride dirty with illegal tint, but understand that you will likely be treated differently than folks who are legal.

Just to be clear, all of my cars have LEGAL tint, however mine have never been checked since the law was passed back in the mid 80's.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Steven Carter wrote:

You're obviously free to ride dirty. . .

Now thats funny, Steven Carter showing his ghetto side. . .

Brian Marks · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:04 am

Steven Carter wrote:

Brian, if your tint is too dark, then you aren't abiding by the law, right? :wink:

As a law-abiding citizen, I did not know I should roll my windows down. I have, in fact, been told by RPD not to roll down my window until the officer is at my window so that I can verify he/she is, in fact, a police officer and not someone impersonating a cop. Of course, I have legal tint, so maybe that's different... :wink:

Correct, which is why I said so in the first post. Not sure what you're implying, but having your windows tinted a few % darker than the legal limit doesn't make me a criminal. :wink:

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:50 am

I've been thinking about this quite a bit, guess I have time being that sales are slow this time of year with school starting, natural distasters, and consumer confidence plummeting.

I agree with most of the points made, especially Steve's about the safety of police officers & the highway patrol men and women, whom I must say are very brave people to do what they do on a daily basis.

You couldn't pay me enough to pull over (stepping out of politically correctville here, hang on!) let's say an Escalade with 26" spinners with smoke billowing out the back with jet black tint on a desolate country road at 2 am with no one around. Officers that do this job are heroes and it's unfortunately that the criminals ruin things like this for everyone and folks like Brian who's unknowingly until recent, had illegal tint, barely.

We REALLY need to focus on the 'pandemic' of overutilization of tech-gagetry behind the wheel but I feel like as a society we're not because we feel we're so reliant on it. On the way back from a bike ride a few weeks ago on 40 near the RBC center in rush hour traffic, I approached a reeeeeally slow moving, beautiful late model X5 holding up traffic and come to find out there's a reason why. When I glanced over, the driver had a fully illuminated iPad held atop the steering wheel and was tapping away!!! I don't even like talking on the cell phone behind the wheel and almost always let it go to voicemail.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:06 pm

Matt McGrain wrote:

I approached a reeeeeally slow moving, beautiful late model X5 holding up traffic and come to find out there's a reason why. When I glanced over, the driver had a fully illuminated iPad held atop the steering wheel and was tapping away!!!

Sh*t like this needs to take priority over illegal tint! Yes, being a cop is dangerous, the pay sucks, we get it. However the likelyhood of a cop getting killed because of window tint vs. several people getting killed because of some fool texting (or whatever) while driving is much less.

Brian Marks · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:11 pm

Vincent Keene wrote:

Matt McGrain wrote:

I approached a reeeeeally slow moving, beautiful late model X5 holding up traffic and come to find out there's a reason why. When I glanced over, the driver had a fully illuminated iPad held atop the steering wheel and was tapping away!!!

Sh*t like this needs to take priority over illegal tint! Yes, being a cop is dangerous, the pay sucks, we get it. However the likelyhood of a cop getting killed because of window tint vs. several people getting killed because of some fool texting (or whatever) while driving is much less.

YES!

But they spend their time doing radar in the Home Depot shopping center where the speed limit is 25mph rather than going out to catch people with ACTUAL safety issues. Burns me up.

Just like a vast majority of everything else, this has as much to do with revenue as it does with safety.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:17 pm

@Brian...I was not implying anything. Should've used more generic terminology. Apologies for that. :beerbuds:

Brian Marks · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:24 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

@Brian...I was not implying anything. Should've used more generic terminology. Apologies for that. :beerbuds:

No problem. I'm not saying I'm 100% "legal" in everything I do, I like to speed and I like dark tint. But that's about as far as it goes

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:03 pm

Brian Marks wrote:

Steven Carter wrote:

@Brian...I was not implying anything. Should've used more generic terminology. Apologies for that. :beerbuds:

No problem. I'm not saying I'm 100% "legal" in everything I do, I like to speed and I like dark tint. But that's about as far as it goes

I was going to say that if you have ever convicted of breaking a law Brian then technically you are a 'criminal'...like the rest of us! :wink:

Brian Marks · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:14 pm

Vincent Keene wrote:

Brian Marks wrote:

Steven Carter wrote:

@Brian...I was not implying anything. Should've used more generic terminology. Apologies for that. :beerbuds:

No problem. I'm not saying I'm 100% "legal" in everything I do, I like to speed and I like dark tint. But that's about as far as it goes

I was going to say that if you have ever convicted of breaking a law Brian then technically you are a 'criminal'...like the rest of us! :wink:

Is that technically true? A minor traffic offense isn't a misdemeanor or felony, so is it a crime?

As an aside, I understand that a tint infraction IS now considered a misdemeanor crime. YIKES. They're smoking crack at the DMV.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:35 pm

G.S. 20-127 Page 2.....
(d) Violations. – A person who does any of the following commits a misdemeanor of the class set in G.S. 20-176:
(1) Applies tinting to the window of a vehicle that is subject to a safety
inspection in this State and the resulting tinted window does not meet
the window tinting restrictions set in this section.
(2) Drives on a highway or a public vehicular area a vehicle that has a
window that does not meet the window tinting restrictions set in this
section.
(e) Defense. – It is a defense to a charge of driving a vehicle with an unlawfully
tinted window that the tinting was removed within 15 days after the charge and the
window now meets the window tinting restrictions. To assert this defense, the person
charged shall produce in court, or submit to the prosecuting attorney before trial, a
certificate from the Division of Motor Vehicles or the Highway Patrol showing that the
window complies with the restrictions.
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/north-ca ... z1Wj92xOy7

Looks like it...

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:52 pm

Brian Marks wrote:

As an aside, I understand that a tint infraction IS now considered a misdemeanor crime. YIKES. They're smoking crack at the DMV.

I'll take the other side of that argument...not that I actually disagree with Brian, but simply because it's fun. One can call it the "Giluiani Capone" defense. BTW, if NC DMV is on crack, it better be on someone else's tax dollars, that's for sure! :lol:

)

How did Giuliani cut the crime rate in NYC so dramatically? Part of the answer (as always, the complete answer is more complicated) is he started paying attention to "nuisance" laws--public urination, drunk in public, jaywalking etc. Those "crimes" made a fertile ground for more significant illegal behavior, and by enforcing those, he was able to get the police presence up in neighborhoods. This, in turn, led police to be more observant for other criminal-like behavior, reduced the incentive for criminal activity in NYC and resulted in NYC's crime rate dramatically dropping from 1993-97. Similarly, DMV and NC police may be using these (and similar laws) in a similar fashion. Are they? dunno. But paying attention to "tip of the iceberg" crimes can dampen the enthusiasm for bigger criminal activity. Like 9% tint. Or driving Crosstours.

Everyone knows that Capone was caught not for gangster-related behavior but on bland crimes like tax evasion. Not sexy, but each count had teeth. Similarly, using vehicle safety/window tint laws allows police to intercept people who may be in the process of criminal behavior including drug/gun possession. A quick Google search of "illegal tint crime" showed a substantial number of links to news items where a car was stopped for illegal tint, and subsequently during an inventory search uncovered drug paraphernalia, weapons etc (truly "riding dirty"). Illegal tint = Probable cause? youbetcha.

Is this what NC is up to? Beats me. But I think it's helpful to understand both perspectives on the issue.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:04 pm

Steven Carter wrote:

Or driving Crosstours.

Smartass

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:09 pm

heh heh...gotta keep it funny. Can't take these conversations too seriously--no need to get bent out of shape :mrgreen:

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State of NC suddenly VERY STRICT on vehicle window tint...

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