Tint meters available 2 weeks before law becomes enforceable

The new Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic regulations on tinted windows will come into effect on June first, but there are still drivers who aren’t sure if their vehicles meet the approved standards. But according to a release issued this afternoon, the Department of Transport has received the first shipment of tint meters. If you want to find out if your windows are too dark, testing will be done in Belmopan on Friday, during the Public Service Information Day activities at the Governor General Field. In Belize City on Saturday, there will also be tint testing at the Wilton Cumberbatch Field from eleven a.m. to five p.m.

Channel 5

Have not seen any un-tinting, on many the gangsta-vehicles crusing and speeding in San Pedro.

The way traffic deparment is working here, I think San Pedro is one big exemption.

Look at the motorbikes only the driver has a helmet, passengers and kids never have one. In the night and on the weekends nobody wears a helmet at all.

I think SP has a rule that if you do something before 8, after 5 or on weekends or holidays, it's ok. Just don't do it Monday through Friday from 8-5 or you might get caught.

New Tint Laws Force Car Owners To Rush Removal Of Dark Tint

The new tint regulations were supposed to come into effect on the first of this month - but the Transport Department gave car owners a 30 day break - which means the new regs take effect tomorrow.

As we found out many left their dark tint on until the last possible day and rushed to the tint stores today. Here's what that scene looked like:…

Jules Vasquez Reporting
5% Tint used to be the standard, but today, it's just windblown refuse - on this last day of June, folks were lining up at tint shops like Glass Technology or the lot on North Front Street to put on 50% tint in the front 20% in the back, they were also lining up here at the city council's traffic inspection area on Johnson street - where you can't get a new license unless you get approved by this machine the Tint Meter Inspector with the specifications outlined in the new regulations which specify 50% at the front 20% at the back the back window of my vehicle recorded 25% - so I'm safe - but not everyone is.

At Glass Technology - they were completely booked - working on four cars at a time.

Errol Garbutt Jr., Glass Technology
"Very hectic, everybody came at the last moment which is very bad - everybody have to wait their turn."

Lots of waiting and lots of customer dissatisfaction - even for a job well done:

Jules Vasquez
"I know that a lot of people were rolling with 5-3%. So how they feel when they see their car now."

Errol Garbutt Jr., Glass Technology
"The first thing they say is that everybody can see me now, everybody will break into my vehicle now. So that is the thing that they are really stressed about."

One of those people is Nigera Matura - she's getting 20% Tatanium tint on her rear window which looked pretty dark to us but she says no less than her sense of security and personal liberty is gone:

Jules Vasquez
"How did you feel when you saw the tint - the 50%?"

Nigera Matura, dislikes New Tint Regs.
"That is next to nothing. They will definitely break into my vehicle now."

Jules Vasquez
"So you have genuine concerns?"

Nigera Matura, dislikes New Tint Regs.
"About it yes, definitely because this in not anything - this is like anywhere you park your vehicle they will definitely break into my vehicle. They can see now and they can pick what they want steal from your vehicle."

Jules Vasquez
"You in the past have had vehicle with 3%, 5% tint."

Nigera Matura, dislikes New Tint Regs.
"Yes always very dark - nothing you can see inside. That is always better especially for someone like me who always go out a lot and I have to park in a distance or whatever, it always better to have it tint dark for safety and also for no one to see you in the vehicle or what you are doing. Now everybody is looking at me now but at first no one was looking at me because they couldn't see me. Now they can see me I don't like it now. I can't even eat tacos in the vehicle now because people will see me"

And while she laughed off the bad news - many who went to have their vehicles inspected had nothing to laugh about - their tint did not make the grade.

We tested this sheet of 50 and also tested this sheet of 20 which was 22 within the 3 margin of error. Put it on this Mitsubishi and then put it on brought it back to test - and there it was 51, as for the twenty in the back - that read a generous 24 - remember it started out at 22. Worked for me.

But this man wasn't so lucky.

Jules Vasquez "You put on the 50% at the front and the 20% at the back and what happen?"

Car Owner
"After that I went to check it and they didn't approve it, they said that the 20% was reading too low - it was reading 17% and when they tested the 50% it read like 43%."

Seemed odd to us - since we had tested these same samples - so we went with him to the testing site and the twenty tested as 12 but top the glass that same tint tests as 19. The 50 tests as 50, put it on the glass and it goes down to 38.

And test the glass alone and it's at 78 - which the maximum it should read is 85…

Car Owner
"Is it the machine or is it my window?"

Jules Vasquez
"I don't know what to say."

Car Owner
"Something is wrong but I don't know what to do. I might have to take off all the tint off my car."

Jules Vasquez
"But you had to pay some money to put this on."

Car Owner
"I had to pay for it but I don't know what to do next."

And there's also a pickle for folks with late model SUV's whose back glass is factory tinted to 15%. That can't be removed, so authorities will have to make some accommodation for it….

And on days like these the tint shops are making all accommodations - making hay while the sun shines

Jules Vasquez
"This has been a real bonanza for you all - the implementation of this new law."

Errol Garbutt Jr., Glass Technology
"It's a bonanza you can say but it's all good Jules."

Jules Vasquez
"But after this?"

Errol Garbutt Jr., Glass Technology
"After this it will get slow because nobody would want to put in dark tint. When they import their vehicle from abroad they will leave the tint as it, they will not put on the 50% on the vehicle because they will say it's the same at the clear tint."

Jules Vasquez
"So now this is the feast before the famine?"

Errol Garbutt Jr., Glass Technology
"Yeah this is the feast before the famine. I think the famine will come in September."

Those that did not meet the tint requirements could not get their vehicle licensed renewed today. According to the City's Traffic Department, a checkpoint will be set up tomorrow - but offenders will simply be given a warning to comply within ten days. If they fail to do so, they will then be given a summons to appear in court where the fin is five hundred dollars…..

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