Drive against dark tinted glasses

Imposition of penalties will start from October 25

October 14, 2012 01:28 am | Updated November 16, 2021 09:49 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Following court orders, vehicle owners in Hyderabad are removing tinted dark films on the car window panes and are fixing the films as specified by the government. A worker is removing a dark film and fixing a transparent one. Photo: K. Ramesh

Following court orders, vehicle owners in Hyderabad are removing tinted dark films on the car window panes and are fixing the films as specified by the government. A worker is removing a dark film and fixing a transparent one. Photo: K. Ramesh

If you think the dark, tinted film on your car windows and rear wind screen provides you some privacy on the road, be warned! It’s illegal and you could be issued a challan for Rs 500 or more.

Law enforcers will soon start a drive to enforce an apex court direction banning the use of dark tinted film and ensuring that transparency levels are maintained. The traffic police will take up an education drive to convince the vehicle owners to remove the tints. Imposition of penalties would start from October 25, Additional CP (Traffic) C.V. Anand told reporters here on Saturday.

The Supreme Court’s directive specifies the visibility levels of the safety glasses that should be maintained as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. According to Rule 100, the Visual Light Transmission (VLT), i.e. transparency of the glasses, for front and rear wind screens should be 70 percent or more and side window glasses should have a minimum VLT of 50 per cent. The Apex Court had also ruled that black film of any transparency should not be used on the glasses of four-wheelers.

“There was some confusion about the implementation of the directive leading to a delay in enforcement,” Mr. Anand said.

The traffic police will also shortly purchase Luxometers which can test the visibility of a car window or windshields. “Once we acquire this equipment, we will crackdown on vehicles whose VLT percentage cannot be determined visually,” he said. The police will also station auto mechanics on roads to remove the tinted films.

However, official vehicles of VVIPs with ‘Z’ and ‘Z+’ security will be permitted to use dark film tints for security reasons, Mr. Anand said. “The list of people with these security covers is already with us and any decision on adding any one to this list will be taken by a committee comprising the DGP, CP and Home Secretary on a case by case basis,” he explained.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.