From: Marts on
Victoria Police current has an operation running. It's about excessive tinting
and the risks that it poses to other road users, in particular, cyclists,
pedestrians and motorcyclists, which can be difficult to spot, or so they say.

This morning they pulled over around 50 cars in the Carlton (Melbourne inner
suburb). 35 of them were defected due to their tinting being excessive.

The police have a light meter. They request the driver to wind down a window
part way, then attach a device to one side, presumably a light transmitter, and
the detection unit on the other. If less than 35% of the light is filtered then
the car is defected.

For those who aren't familiar with this Victoria Police will slap a large yellow
label (we used to call them "canaries" way back when) on the windscreen. The
driver then has a limited period of time to get the car inspected by Vicroads
after the faults are rectified.

Anyway, I was listening to the radio which reported on it. One fellow called in.
Supposedly a travelling salesman, his near new Falcon has dealer fitted tinting.
His reading was "31". He was slapped with a canary and was told to get the car
de-tinted. In the meantime he had to drive with his windows down.

A fellow claiming to be a licensed motor vehicle tester called in. He said that
what tends to happen is that most cars come with a tint ex-factory, which is
legal. Then the dealer or the owner may get it tinted by say, Tint a Car. This
will put it under the legal threshold.

The driver who called in said that he went to the dealer and had a whinge.
Apparently the dealer had the car sent off to a third party mob to get the
tinting done. He then went there. The fellow there said that he had done about
15,000 cars and his was the first to have problems. He was probably trying to
say that he is an isolated case.

But what he wasn't considering is that this is the first time that the police
has made an effort to police this particular problem.

Then a copper called in. He said that he was a former accident investigator. He
said that in 20 years in the job he never found the cause, or underlying cause
of any crash was down to excessive tinting. But then, given how they often cite
"speed" as the main cause of all of our woes, this too has to be taken
cautiously.

So, if you have had tinting done, or expect to get it done, it might pay to ask
the question about this.
From: John_H on
Marts wrote:
>
>Then a copper called in. He said that he was a former accident investigator. He
>said that in 20 years in the job he never found the cause, or underlying cause
>of any crash was down to excessive tinting. But then, given how they often cite
>"speed" as the main cause of all of our woes, this too has to be taken
>cautiously.

Actually crash investigators find only a relatively low percentage of
crashes are caused by excessive speed (not necessarily speeding).
GovCo spin does the rest.

OTOH failing to give right of way is a major cause... how many of
those couldn't see the other vehicle is probably anyone's guess! :)

--
John H
From: Crash Lander on
Marts wrote:

> Victoria Police current has an operation running. It's about
> excessive tinting and the risks that it poses to other road users, in
> particular, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists, which can be
> difficult to spot, or so they say.
>
> This morning they pulled over around 50 cars in the Carlton
> (Melbourne inner suburb). 35 of them were defected due to their
> tinting being excessive.
>
> The police have a light meter. They request the driver to wind down a
> window part way, then attach a device to one side, presumably a light
> transmitter, and the detection unit on the other. If less than 35% of
> the light is filtered then the car is defected.
>
> For those who aren't familiar with this Victoria Police will slap a
> large yellow label (we used to call them "canaries" way back when) on
> the windscreen. The driver then has a limited period of time to get
> the car inspected by Vicroads after the faults are rectified.
>
> Anyway, I was listening to the radio which reported on it. One fellow
> called in. Supposedly a travelling salesman, his near new Falcon has
> dealer fitted tinting. His reading was "31". He was slapped with a
> canary and was told to get the car de-tinted. In the meantime he had
> to drive with his windows down.
>
> A fellow claiming to be a licensed motor vehicle tester called in. He
> said that what tends to happen is that most cars come with a tint
> ex-factory, which is legal. Then the dealer or the owner may get it
> tinted by say, Tint a Car. This will put it under the legal threshold.
>
> The driver who called in said that he went to the dealer and had a
> whinge. Apparently the dealer had the car sent off to a third party
> mob to get the tinting done. He then went there. The fellow there
> said that he had done about 15,000 cars and his was the first to have
> problems. He was probably trying to say that he is an isolated case.
>
> But what he wasn't considering is that this is the first time that
> the police has made an effort to police this particular problem.
>
> Then a copper called in. He said that he was a former accident
> investigator. He said that in 20 years in the job he never found the
> cause, or underlying cause of any crash was down to excessive
> tinting. But then, given how they often cite "speed" as the main
> cause of all of our woes, this too has to be taken cautiously.
>
> So, if you have had tinting done, or expect to get it done, it might
> pay to ask the question about this.

How do Limo's get by then?
Many cars have all windows tinted, except the drivers onde, and the
windscreen.
Crash Lander

--

From: Brad on


"Crash Lander" <idont(a)think.so> wrote in message
news:ZTdWn.998$vD2.834(a)news-server.bigpond.net.au...
: Marts wrote:
:
: > Victoria Police current has an operation running. It's about
: > excessive tinting and the risks that it poses to other road users, in
: > particular, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists, which can be
: > difficult to spot, or so they say.
: >
: > This morning they pulled over around 50 cars in the Carlton
: > (Melbourne inner suburb). 35 of them were defected due to their
: > tinting being excessive.
: >
: > The police have a light meter. They request the driver to wind down a
: > window part way, then attach a device to one side, presumably a light
: > transmitter, and the detection unit on the other. If less than 35% of
: > the light is filtered then the car is defected.
: >
: > For those who aren't familiar with this Victoria Police will slap a
: > large yellow label (we used to call them "canaries" way back when) on
: > the windscreen. The driver then has a limited period of time to get
: > the car inspected by Vicroads after the faults are rectified.
: >
: > Anyway, I was listening to the radio which reported on it. One fellow
: > called in. Supposedly a travelling salesman, his near new Falcon has
: > dealer fitted tinting. His reading was "31". He was slapped with a
: > canary and was told to get the car de-tinted. In the meantime he had
: > to drive with his windows down.
: >
: > A fellow claiming to be a licensed motor vehicle tester called in. He
: > said that what tends to happen is that most cars come with a tint
: > ex-factory, which is legal. Then the dealer or the owner may get it
: > tinted by say, Tint a Car. This will put it under the legal threshold.
: >
: > The driver who called in said that he went to the dealer and had a
: > whinge. Apparently the dealer had the car sent off to a third party
: > mob to get the tinting done. He then went there. The fellow there
: > said that he had done about 15,000 cars and his was the first to have
: > problems. He was probably trying to say that he is an isolated case.
: >
: > But what he wasn't considering is that this is the first time that
: > the police has made an effort to police this particular problem.
: >
: > Then a copper called in. He said that he was a former accident
: > investigator. He said that in 20 years in the job he never found the
: > cause, or underlying cause of any crash was down to excessive
: > tinting. But then, given how they often cite "speed" as the main
: > cause of all of our woes, this too has to be taken cautiously.
: >
: > So, if you have had tinting done, or expect to get it done, it might
: > pay to ask the question about this.
:
: How do Limo's get by then?
: Many cars have all windows tinted, except the drivers onde, and the
: windscreen.
: Crash Lander
:
: --
:

Probably different tint front/back is available but I haven't checked the
regs.

Here it is not uncommon for windows to be tinted to almost black and then
strips put across the windscreen to obscure an view of the inside. On the
other hand mesh (like security screen or more like the stuff they use for
drainage) over all windows including windscreen is not uncommon. Make it
almost impossible to judge the distance of headlights at night, a close call
or two and you become more aware.


--
Brad Leyden
6� 43.5816' S 146� 59.3097' E WGS84
To mail spam is really hot but please reply to thread so all may benefit (or
laugh at my mistakes)
>
>


From: John_H on
Crash Lander wrote:
>
>How do Limo's get by then?

They'll get a canary as well... unless the cops are on the owners'
payroll! ;-)

--
John H