Window Tinting Laws in Washington State

Over the years people grew fond of tinted windows on their cars for one reason or another. The main reason naturally is, to block the sun and make it easier for the driver to see outside in the day time. But what about driving at night with the tinted windows?

Many people think that tint on car windows should be illegal, or at least don’t have such dark tint for your cars.

And there is also a kind of tint for your car windows that looks silver, in my opinion it looks like a mirror, and there is no way that someone on the outside can see the person on the inside.

The main controversy here is, Safety�

Driving at night with tinted windows not only jeopardizes the viewing efficiency of the drivers being able to see clearly out of their windows, it also jeopardizes civilians in other vehicles, for instance; what if you were a cop, pulling someone over for speeding or for some other reason, and they had the ‘mirror tint’ on their car windows, the cop would not be able to see inside that car so the person in the car could have a gun pointed directly at the cops head, and the cop would never see it comingâÂ?¦
Another scenario; what if you had a child who was walking home from school, and someone had a car with really dark tint on their windows, the car pulls over and picks your child up, your child could be screaming and waving and no one would be able to see that there is a child in the back of that car that needs help.

There are so many good reasons that window tinting should not be legal, and what, two reasons why people love it: ‘The looks of the tint, and/or, to block the sun in the daytime.’ But for your reason to be ‘to block the sun in the daytime’ really isn’t a good reason, blocking the sun in the daytime is for sunglasses, and at night you take the sunglasses off, but if you have dark tint on your car windows, you can’t just “take it off” at night when you don’t need it anymore. Driving a car with dark tint is like wearing your sunglasses at night, it makes everything three times as dark as it really is outside.

And what happens when you have to backup in your car, your reverse lights don’t light that much up, and having tint on your windows makes it even harder to see, so you may not be able to see the shopping cart in the parking lot and crash into it, or you may not see the kid running in the street and accidentally hit him. Do you see what I am saying?

With only two reasons for window tinting to be legal, verses 100 reasons and scenarios why window tint should be illegal, there really isn’t any comparison.

So maybe we should compromise, set a medium for how dark is too dark of tint, and how dark is acceptable for window tint.
Or someone should make a window tint that changes, like glasses, in the sun they are dark, and in the night they fade so you can see clearly.

In Washington State the window tint laws apply as follows:

6 inches / 32% Film / 32% Film / 32% Film / 1989
Note: MPV Windows behind the front side doors are exempt.
Enforcement Note: Tint law applies to non-Washington registered vehicles.

The info is in this format: Windshield/Front side windows/Rear side windows/Rear back windows/Year passed

The percentages are the numbers representing the amount of light transparency through the tint.

So, A tint brow on the windshield cannot go no lower than 6 inches, 32% film may be applied to the front side windows, 32% light must go through the combined window film and windows for the rear side windows and 32% light transmission is required on the rear back window and film combined. The year 1989 is the year that the law went into effect.

To look for your states window tinting laws there are many web sites you can visit: http://home.pcisys.net/~bpc/auto_law/tint/ is where I found to be the most helpful�

Another very helpful web site I found is: Enjoy the Drive.com You can read their chart and find out exactly what tint is legal in your state. http://www.enjoythedrive.com/content/?id=10456

The most reliable, easy to understand web site for your states window tinting laws is: Tint Center.com http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/

They supply ‘FAQ’ about window tinting, all 50 state’s window tinting laws, and if certain colors or tints are legal or illegal.