I received a press release yesterday informing me our police service was proudly going into battle once again targeting motorists with “unsafe” tint applied to their vehicles side windows and windscreens.

I have yet to see an “unsafe” tint and my mind cannot get around how a car windscreen tint can be unsafe.

“Unsafe tint is an offence and punishable …….. liable on summary conviction to a fine of two thousand five hundred dollars, or to imprisonment to six months, or to both.

Blimey!

The press release states what is deemed (by measurement) to be an “unsafe” tint.

But why is it being called “unsafe”? Some definitions of “unsafe” I found are: “dangerous, risky, perilous, hazardous, life-threatening, high-risk, treacherous, hairy, insecure, unsound”.  There are lots more. Not one of these can be applied to tinted glass.

The only explanation I can think of is if perhaps where the tint is so dark you can’t see out of it so it impairs your driving and becomes unsafe to other motorists and pedestrians alike. Or perhaps when a police officer approaching your car cannot see inside the interior of the car and therefore unable to take the appropriate action if he/she had been able to discern that the driver or passenger has a weapon.

We live in a country where the sun shines over 80% of the year. This conception that tinted windows are for teenagers and those who would like to remain incognito is nonsense. It is this notion that is unsafe. In truth, tinted windows serve a very important function in protecting you and your car from the damaging rays of the sun.

The benefits of tinted windows are huge. They block 65% of the sun’s heat and a whopping 99.9% of damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays. Not only do they protect the interior and upholstery of the vehicle, but they also protect your eyes from glare and eyestrain and your skin from sun damage. Window film also makes your vehicle’s glass safer by holding shattered glass in place. The darker the tint the safer it is for the persons inside the vehicle.

From the Cancer Council Australia (where it also has extreme amounts of sun):

“Both episodic and cumulative exposure to UV radiation are associated with an increased risk of skin cancer. Clear or tinted films and window covers on the side windows of vehicles can provide protection by substantially reducing the amount of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation that is transmitted through glass.

“Cancer Council Australia recommends that people who spend long periods of time in a vehicle when the UV index levels are at 3 or above use a combination of sun protection measures, such as long sleeved clothing, sunglasses and sunscreen that is SPF 30 or higher. This will ensure occupants are protected both in the vehicle and when they leave it.”

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has a modern and impressive computer for giving us statistics. I would be interested in their stats for accidents that have occurred because of these unsafe tints to justify this need for a crackdown.

The need for a crackdown when surely the police could, and in my opinion, be better and more usefully employed in trying to curb the ballooning crime figures that we do have the statistics for?

“We don’t have the necessary manpower to deal with all the criminals out there” is one of the excuses, or it’s our fault because we invite criminals into our homes because we don’t take the necessary safeguards by locking ourselves away behind a prison fortress!

But then, investigating and putting away a thief in a prison fortress is not cost affective is it? Especially when you can get $2,000 for every unsafe tinted car window.

Even though finding the unsafe tints on our vehicles would show up every year when it comes to testing our vehicles by the police each year in order to licence them, some high ranking officer deems this so seriously it must be executed now.

Not content with this we have the ‘unreadable’ licence plates and the rear plates to be sufficiently illuminated at night. I would, perhaps, on a scale of importance give this twice or even three times as much as the unsafe tint. However, unsafe tints are at 1 on my scale whilst an announcement on a crackdown on crime would be 10.

I am sure all the victims of this crackdown are not exactly going to be in a mood to assist the RCIPS when it comes to the really serious job of combating crime.

It’s the criminals that make me feel unsafe not the tint on my vehicle glass that’s there to help me become safer from being a victim of cancer from the sun’s rays.