By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 1, 2022 – Starting on December 1st residents will be at risk of having their imported vehicles stranded at the docks if they do not comply with tinting regulations.  Recommended by the Police as a crime fighting measure, the new laws on tinting take effect on Thursday December 1, 2022 and apply to all vehicles imported after November 30th including those in use in the public service.

Wilbur Caley, Head of the Department of Motor Vehicles in speaking to Magnetic Media said residents are reminded that as of now, it will be illegal for any vehicle to have on its driver window, front passenger window and front windscreen tint levels lower than 50 per cent.  Back passenger windows are allowed tints at 30 per cent.

Public Service Vehicles are not exempt except in the islands as of November 30 with factory built in tint lower than 20 percent.  However, those public service vehicles imported into the islands following November 30 may have rear window or factory built in tint not lower than 20 per cent or they too risk not getting their vehicles registered.

“Any vehicle imported into the islands with tint levels lower than the legal limits will not be registered. Vehicles found on the roads with levels below the legal limit will be ticketed at $250 per window,” Caley maintained.

Police have already stopped multiple people, towed cars, and scraped off tints in their road operations this month.

While tints block more than 90 percent of UV rays, upping passenger safety the new ban has specific benefits for public safety.

Tints adjust Vehicle Light Transition levels letting more or less light in, depending on how low the percentage is. So the lower the percentage the darker the tint and the harder it is to see inside the vehicle.  The sad reality is that criminals in the TCI are getting around somehow, low enough tints could allow them to drive right by residents or police undetected, putting law enforcement at a disadvantage.

In addition in the last six months there have been multiple drive by shootings, some of them chalked up to mistaken identity.  At least three incidents have seen residents pumped with bullets meant for others, including American Kent Carter.

Countries all across the Caribbean have window tint laws.

Trinidad and Tobago instituted a 35 percent tint law last year.  Jamaica made it illegal for some public passenger vehicles all together. As for sun safety, residents needn’t worry.  Even the right clear tints protect from nearly all UV rays.