VA enforces VA tint law on MD car

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   You probably won't get much sympathy from a judge, but here is another analogy you could argue to the court -- enforcing the VA tint law against out of state drivers would be like requiring every out of state vehicle to comply with state inspection laws.  Technically this breaks down becasue I would guess the statute says only vehicles registered -- as opposed to operated -- in VA must have state yearly state inspection.  

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Jack Burden Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Jack Burden Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2010 at 4:49pm
	You probably won't get much sympathy from a judge, but here is another analogy you could argue to the court -- enforcing the VA tint law against out of state drivers would be like requiring every out of state vehicle to comply with state inspection laws. Technically this breaks down becasue I would guess the statute says only vehicles registered -- as opposed to operated -- in VA must have state yearly state inspection.

sluDgE Members Profile Find Members Posts Master Slug Joined: 27 Oct 2003 Status: Offline Points: 501	Post Options Post Reply Quote sluDgE Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Jul 2010 at 5:06pm
	Appears that fnk1481 started posting on this b'board in the Spring and possibly moved to the Commonwealth from Maryland at about that time. So, fnk1481 could be a Virginia "newbie"! In an effort to be helpful and educational ... here is a VA DMV website titled "New to Virginia?" that lists what fnk1481 (and all of us) must do (with associated time limits) to comply with Virginia vehicle registration laws: http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/moving/newva.asp [:D]

sluDgE Members Profile Find Members Posts Master Slug Joined: 27 Oct 2003 Status: Offline Points: 501	Post Options Post Reply Quote sluDgE Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 Jul 2010 at 7:12am
	More tinting info ... Here's a DMV website that describes allowable tinting of vehicle windows with/without medical waivers: http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/citizen/medical/sunshading.asp The site says an owner must request and obtain a medical waiver from DMV BEFORE getting the windows tinted darker than allowed with no waiver.

wvuguy2004 Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 15 Oct 2009 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote wvuguy2004 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19 Jul 2010 at 1:06pm
	My two cents.... You don't mention in your post whether or not the officer actually gave you a ticket. I'm assuming from the tone of your post, he did. Basically, any time you are operating a vehicle, you must conform to the standards of the state in which it is being operated. So if you are a resident of Maryland, but know that you will be frequenting VA, it would be wise to research what level of tint is legal in VA before having that tint applied. Is this whole thing a bit burdensome? Yes. The police officer's logic - Yeah, it's a bit flawed, and I think his analogy breaks down a bit. But I'll make a better one. I used to live in a location where studded snow tires were perfectly legal. However, I can not reasonable expect to drive them on the beltway. And yes, changing those tires was a bit of a hassle. But I needed to conform to the laws here. Also a bit of advice - a combative attitude is not helpful with law enforcement. Is it necessarily his business what you're doing in VA? No, not really. But he could have just as easily been looking for a reason NOT to write you a ticket. If you had perhaps explained that you reside in MD, but picked up slugs to go to VA because you wished to visit family in VA (or whatever reason applies to you), he may have very well let you off with a warning. In my experience, when you're being evasive, police tend to react negatively. Fair? No. Fact of life? Yes.

lennydao Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 21 Jun 2010 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote lennydao Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 Jul 2010 at 2:23pm
	fnk1481 Take the ticket like a man or fight it in court. You sound so dumb posting this comment.

USA Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 06 Jun 2002 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote USA Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 Jul 2010 at 3:36pm
	The tint law in Virginia (46.2-1052) allows 35% on the rear side windows and the rear window, 50% on the front side windows, and none (other than what might have been part of the OEM glass) on the front (the windshield/windscreen). The statute is not specific to Virginia-registered vehicles, so if your tint is darker than what the state law allows, you lose. There have been bills introduced in the General Assembly to make the statute apply only to Virginia-registered vehicles, but they have failed every time. (Congress has nothing to do with the matter. It's a state law, not a federal law.) The logic of applying it to out-of-staters is that Virginia has determined that the tint levels prescribed in the statute are the darkest safe levels. (Note that I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing with their conclusion.) A darker tint level does not become "safe" simply because the motorist comes from a state that allows for a darker level.

USA Members Profile Find Members Posts New Slug Joined: 06 Jun 2002 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote USA Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21 Jul 2010 at 11:25am
	quote: Originally posted by RoadRunner I presume it's a similar argument where an out of state hybrid owner thinks he can get on the Virginia HOV lanes because he has a hybrid. The stipulation for hybrids in the HOV lanes is you must have a clean fuel plate or 3 people (or 2 on I-66) in the vehicle...in other words, one has to conform to the laws of that state. I think the argument may be slightly different. I've seen people squawk about the tint issue on car chat boards and their beef seems to be that it's not fair to issue a ticket when their state allows a particular modification to the vehicle and it's one that is not easily reversed (i.e., you can't remove the tint, drive through Virginia, then put it back up--compare to a radar detector where you can easily turn it off and stick it in the trunk). There was a famous U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding Illinois's law applying to truck mud flaps. The Illinois rule rendered a mud flap design that was legal in at least 45 states illegal for use in Illinois; also, the banned design was specifically REQUIRED for use in at least one state (Arkansas). Several interstate trucking lines sued to enjoin the enforcement of the Illinois law on the basis that it was an unconstitutional infringement on interstate commerce. The matter went up to the Supreme Court and the trucking companies won, due in large part to the unreasonable cost of switching the mud flaps all the time because the Illinois law made it impossible to use one set of equipment that would comply with all states' laws. The opinion is Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., 359 U.S. 520 (1959), and if you're interested you can find it at http://supreme.justia.com/us/359/520/case.html (the opinion begins where it says "Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court"). The tint law is rather different from the one at issue in Bibb, though, because in the tint case it's very easy to comply with the tint laws in both Virginia and Maryland if you tint your windows to the Virginia standard. The mere fact that Maryland allows darker tint wouldn't by itself be enough of a reason to overturn the Virginia law, and the Bibb Court mentions this argument by noting several other cases involving things like truck weight limits on highways (where you can easily comply with everyone's law if you just comply with the minimum weight limit in any state).