NYC tint how to dismiss

[xcleex]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

I just received 2 tickets for 2 windows that were tinted.

Full story: I bought my car as CPO from a dealer. I was never a car person and only have a car bought by my parents so that I can commute to school everyday. As gullible as it sounds I thought it originally came like that since all windows were tinted. It was a job well done that I couldn't see it until I took a close inspection at the edges of the windows. I had told the cops that it was bought a year ago as used car and it came like that and I didn't know. He gave me a ticket. With no intention of breaking the law further, I immediately took it to a local garage that was able to remove it on the same day. I took pictures of it being removed and have before and after pictures. After searching, I even have the picture of the car from the day that I bought it with dealer logo in the plate with "BIG SALE WOW DEAL" sign and I have the picture of the door opened so that you can clearly see the tinted window. I plan to plead not guilty and bring all photos mentioned as my evidence that it came with the car when I bought it.

Any ideas that might support my case?

Thank you.

 

[HighwayMan]

You have no case. Getting the tint removed afterwards does not change the fact that the windows were illegally tinted when you got stopped.

These are equipment violations, except that they are NOT correctable since it is NOT defective equipment but rather an intentional modification made to the vehicle.

What court are the tickets returnable to? Do you know what reading the tintmeter indicated for your windows?

 

[HighwayMan]

Sorry, you did say NYC in the subject line. Well then, your fate is sealed. There is no plea bargaining in the Traffic Violations Bureau in NYC, so there is no chance of getting any type of "deal".

As long as the officer used a meter to test your glass you do not have a leg to stand on.

For the record, two tickets was correct - you should get one for each piece of illegally tinted glass.

You can argue until you're blue in the face that you bought the car that way but it will get you nowhere. When someone tells me that I say "well if you buy a car with a flat tire do you fix it or drive around on the flat for a year?" Ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially with this type of violation.

Which borough is this?

 

[xcleex]

You have no case. Getting the tint removed afterwards does not change the fact that the windows were illegally tinted when you got stopped.

These are equipment violations, except that they are NOT correctable since it is NOT defective equipment but rather an intentional modification made to the vehicle.

What court are the tickets returnable to? Do you know what reading the tintmeter indicated for your windows?

It's my first time getting a ticket so I do not know what you mean by "what tickets are returnable to". Do you mean where I mail out the ticket?

And yes the officer used a device to measure the tinting and it was 23%

 

[xcleex]

Sorry, you did say NYC in the subject line. Well then, your fate is sealed. There is no plea bargaining in the Traffic Violations Bureau in NYC, so there is no chance of getting any type of "deal".

As long as the officer used a meter to test your glass you do not have a leg to stand on.

For the record, two tickets was correct - you should get one for each piece of illegally tinted glass.

You can argue until you're blue in the face that you bought the car that way but it will get you nowhere. When someone tells me that I say "well if you buy a car with a flat tire do you fix it or drive around on the flat for a year?" Ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially with this type of violation.

Which borough is this?

I understand what you are saying in the example given. Completely agree with that. Well, now I know, just because a car came with it, doesn't mean I'm NOT responsible for it...

I shouldn't even bother with pleading not guilty huh...

And this happened in Queens

 

[HighwayMan]

Some judges >might< throw out one ticket in a case like this but it is far from certain. If you can afford the time to go to court then you can try it.

Your glass tested at 23% but to be legal they needed to be 70% or higher. Just so you know how far below the legal limit they were.

You would be responsible even if it was someone else's car. This is called strict liability. There are very few violations which the owner would be held responsible for (dimensions and insurance in some cases).

So, it's up to you. If you can afford the time you can show up in court with your proof of removal, etc and see what the judge does. The best case is you only have to pay for one ticket. The worst and most common case will be it won't make a difference. If the officer is there and testifies correctly you won't get very far.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Back in my younger days, I had a number of tinted windows, and consequently, a number of tint tickets. Upstate, they (used to?) see this as a correctable violation and if you brought the car to the citing officer within 24 hours with the tint removed, the ticket was dropped. In NYC, not so much.

However, there are still a few, albeit crappy, arguments to be made at the TVB. First, as Highwayman pointed out, if you get a sympathetic ALJ, they may drop 1 of the 2 tickets, particularly if they were issued simultaneously. (But if you get one tint ticket on Monday and another on Tuesday, a sympathy dismissal is not going to happen). I recall one poor schmuck who had 6 tint tickets (among others) written at the same stop: all four doors, rear window and strip across top of windshield. He ended up just having to pay for 1.

But what I also learned from that incident is that the electronic "tint-o-meter" (the one that sits on top of an open window) is not the only device the police have available to them. Back in the day dinosaurs ruled the earth, they also used what looked like an old-timey slide on a stick. Each "slide" had a different sample of tint in it. The officer would grab his set, and hold each one up to the window and compares the levels until he finds a match. (This is also how the officer measured the windshield and rear window tints).

Long story short, you can attack the certification (and officer's training, I guess) of the "tint slides" if they were used. If you were close to the 70% mark, you could also try it with the tint-o-meter, e.g., "dirty window caused false reading", but at 23%, that's not happening.


PS: 23% is super dark. I believe "limo tint" starts at 20% so there is no way not to notice 23% tint.

 

[HighwayMan]

In NYC, not so much.

Not at all. The DMV's position is that an intentional modification to the vehicle is NOT defective equipment and not subject to correction. Of course, regular courts don't seem to know or abide by that.

(This is also how the officer measured the windshield and rear window tints).

I have an advanced "tintmeter" - a Laser Labs Model 200. It's comprised of two separate units - a light source and the collector. I can test any windshield, rear window, or window that "is broke and don't roll down". Beware!

Long story short, you can attack the certification (and officer's training, I guess)...

Never been questioned on that since there is no certification for use of the tintmeter. My training consisted of reading the instructions which came with the unit which took about 90 seconds.

"dirty window caused false reading", but at 23%, that's not happening.

I have tested approximately 3000 pieces of glass and that's a conservative estimate. I have never seen "dirt" make a noticeable difference in the reading. When someone raises that issue I clean their windows for them with a cloth I keep in my trunk for that purpose and then test the glass again. That really takes the wind out of their sails. It either makes no difference or changes the reading by one percent.

Of course, experience counts for a lot when testifying in court.

Oh, and for the record - no tint is legal in NY. Factory windows test at about 75% visible light transmittance - which is barely legal. ANY noticeable tint will render the glass illegal. The lightest tint I ever tested was about 52% - well below the limit.

 

[You Are Guilty]

As you could probably surmise from the tint-slide story, my tint days are loooong behind me. Back when the original (?) tintmeter (that sat on top of the opened window) was in use, the "my windows broke, yo" defense was quite prevalent. Glad to hear technology has since closed that loophole.

But, if one were sufficiently lacking in morals and maintained a love affair with limo tint, there is still the medical exception defense. All it requires a sufficiently bribe-able eye doctor to work!
http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv80w.pdf

PS: I have seen "factory" aftermarket tint. It's essentially foggy saran wrap and, much like most car "mods" these days, I'm not quite sure what the point of it is.

 

[HighwayMan]

But, if one were sufficiently lacking in morals and maintained a love affair with limo tint, there is still the medical exception defense. All it requires a sufficiently bribe-able eye doctor to work!
http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv80w.pdf

That's a stretch, since one's case would be reviewed by a DMV medical board. Also, the exemption would have to be granted prior to the tint being applied.

In 15 years of stopping (a lot of) people with tinted windows I have come across only ONE with a legitimate medical exemption.