Ditch the Tint

I loathe tinted windows. Other than the swarms of vision-blocking SUVs, I can think of no greater hazard to road safety. What’s worse, there are better solutions available. (We aren’t talking that slight tint that comes from the dealer, but that ridiculously dark stuff that all but opaques your glass.)

Here in the desert southwest, major reasons cited for having tinted windows is that it keeps interiors cooler and prolongs the life of upholstery. The thing is, all of this protection is due to the blocking of light that is outside our ability to detect with our eyes: infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV). There is no question that if you block IR coming into a car, the interior will be cooler. Also, if you block UV, much of the damage that sunlight causes on not only your upholstery but your skin can be greatly diminished.

If that’s the case, then what’s wrong with the tint? Because it can be done with clear IR and UV blocking films. Also, you’d have an even cooler interior because regardless of how much IR your tints are blocking, it is still a dark light-absorbing color and will thus increase the temperature of your glass which will then transfer to the interior.

OK, so what about all of that bright sunshine? My counter argument is: so what about all of that dark nighttime? Yep, a permanent film affixed to your glass is going to make you more dangerous at night because your ability to detect dimly-lit shadows, which are already difficult to see, even less effective. Now I never wear sunglasses so I know that you don’t have to have this sort of light restriction even at high noon on a cloudless day. However, since many of you do think you need this filter, go right on ahead. The great thing is that when you take them off at night anyone crossing a dimly-lit street is more likely to survive your passing.

Despite all of that, my biggest gripe about the tint is that I can’t see through your vehicle to evaluate on-coming traffic. Too often I’m sitting at a store’s driveway, wanting to turn right onto a busy street, but I can’t because some suns-too-bright-cars-too-hot-left-turning vehicle is totally blocking my view. Oh sure, if I feel lucky I can take a chance and just turn into traffic and hope for the best, but being that I like having a collision-free experience when driving, I’m forced to wait. Not because cars are coming, but because I can’t see and evaluate the situation.

Back when tinted windows (and vision-blocking SUVs) were not major players on the road, driving was easier and much less stressful. I can handle the stress of our ever-increasing traffic, but when you complicate things by effectively blinding me to what’s happening, that’s where I have to say that y’all need to stop and think.

Lastly, I can’t help but worry about law-enforcement officers. Their lot can be sketchy enough when they can see into a stopped vehicle. When they can’t their lives become that much more difficult, and that’s just wrong.

The solution? Have all new cars come with IR and UV shielding glass already installed. Ban dark tints except in special cases where security is an issue and require people to specifically register for a variance on that vehicle. As for the rest of you with tint already on? Well…take it off if you can. Most of you have it bubbling off already, so that will only improve the looks of your ride. If you can’t take it off…well, I guess we’ll just have to wait a decade for your vehicles to age out of the system.