Tint law exempts officials, emergency services

Barbadian motorists face fines starting at $500 under sweeping new vehicle tint regulations set to take effect from September 1, in a bid to bolster police safety and crime prevention, while high-ranking officials, emergency services and those with certain medical conditions will be exempt.

The exemptions will be granted to the president, the prime minister, the police, prison and ambulance services, and the defence force, as well as vehicles used to transport human remains, and individuals with specific medical conditions such as lupus, albinism and other sun-sensitive disorders.

“These exceptions do not include protection of upholstery or other car fittings,” Attorney General Dale Marshall said as he led off debate on the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, emphasising that the exemptions are strictly for high-profile government officials, emergency personnel and those with medical needs.

The law sets specific degrees of tint permitted on vehicles: 25 per cent for rear windows, 20 per cent for front side windows (driver and passenger), and 70 per cent for windscreens, to ensure maximum visibility. The higher the percentage of the tint, the more visibility is allowed.

Marshall disclosed that The Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Licensing Authority have already acquired the “highest quality” tint meters to enforce the law.

He indicated that enforcement will be administrative, with fines rather than criminal convictions or imprisonment. Offenders will face a $500 fine, with an additional $10 penalty for each day the non-compliant tint remains on the vehicle. 

The attorney general stressed that the traffic amendments were not meant to create additional backlogs in the already clogged court system.

According to Marshall: “The act of having the wrong tint applied does not make you a criminal. Maybe the purpose why you might do it, but not the act itself. So, rather than clogging up our court system with cases—and you know, Sir, that is what we’ve been doing in relation to a lot of administrative penalties – take them out of the court system. You get fined, you pay the fine and go along with your business.

“If you refuse to pay the fine, then of course [you] will find yourself before the court facing criminal charges. But the point is that this situation is being dealt with by way of an administrative penalty and not a criminal proceeding where you have to go and stand up before a magistrate and say guilty or not guilty.”

Government’s chief legal advisor explained that the impetus for the legislative change came from The Barbados Police Service, which cited heavily tinted vehicles as a significant obstacle in crime fighting and a direct threat to officer safety. 

“[The police] asked for our support [and] they don’t ask for a lot. But they have, on this occasion, asked us to change the law in relation to the tint of vehicles to protect [them]….

“A police officer approaching a vehicle that is completely blacked out does not know whether to go and knock on the windscreen; he doesn’t know if a firearm will be greeting him when the person opens the door, rolls down the window or perhaps does neither but just fires a shot through the glass,” Marshall told the Lower House of Parliament.

“The ability to ascertain the [identity of] occupants of the vehicle, what they do in the vehicle is key in determining how a police officer approaches it. Does he approach it with a defensive stance, a friendly ‘good morning’ or does he approach it for fear of his life with a gun almost drawn? Or maybe, Mr Speaker, he decides that is not worth my life and I go in the other direction.”

The attorney general rejected arguments that tightening the laws on vehicle tint was a minor matter: “It may seem like a small thing but to protect our society, sometimes a small thing makes a difference. There’s that old saying that ‘for want of a nail a shoe was lost; for want of a shoe a horse was lost; for want of a horse a battle was lost’,” Marshall contended.

He added that the Road Traffic Act, amended in 1984, needed updating to address evolving law enforcement challenges, and that Barbados would now join other regional neighbours—including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Antigua and Barbuda—in modernising its vehicle tint legislation.

The tint rules will take effect a year after they were first revealed by the attorney general. After announcing the regulations in September 2024, Marshall announced a three-month grace period for motorists to comply, with the law originally set to take effect in January. However, its implementation was later delayed.  (IMC1)