Minister of Transport has recently announced the new ruling for tinted cars. If you are not aware of it, let me recap with an illustration in the official picture below. I am particularly surprised and upset by the ruling of allowing up to 100% opacity of passenger sides and rear windows.
Following, I am able to think of five reasons not to use dark tint on our vehicles, especially those pitch black ones. Take them with a pinch of salt, and share out if you agree with me.
One. You can never see your targets.
Logically, dark tint is going to reduce the visibility of external environment, therefore giving the driver a vision of false colours and possible misinterpretation of the constantly changing vision field. For example, if you are wishing to ram into the crossing hare, you might end up in the ditch rather than hitting the target. On the more fatal side, you might misjudge a narrow exit and end up in a flying car of the year 2020.
Therefore, here is a piece of cautionary advice to all the pedestrians. If you see a tinted car coming your way, declare your right of way by waving or showing the magic hand of Malaysians and trying to make eye contact with the drivers. If a tinted car is speeding your way, you might want to just let it pass. Chances are the driver is blind and we hope not to see you in a collision.
Two. Thieves will find it curious.
You might think that dark tint might reduce the probabilities of your car being broke in, at least by statistics it does. Thieves who are unmotivated might give what is unseen a pass, but not so much for the savvy ones. I think that dark tint implies something valuable is hidden in your car. While I may not have the expertise to access your car using conventional entry without permission, I might as well just break in and take a peek.
Three. Peek-a-boo!
This might be a great scare tactic for pranksters on the road, but definitely not for law-abiding citizens like me. The tactic is to let whoever stopping you to think that you have someone threatening in your passenger seat. It is used to bluff the way out from sticky situations. This requires a decent enough vehicle with some sort of badges that imply somebody significant presents in the car.
On the flip side, it is difficult for the driver tailing the tinted car to notice and aware of the vehicles and obstacles in front. The tinted car could be slow as a snail and causing heavy traffic congestion. The tinted car could be a late breaker and causing you to slam into its rear (I know people will say that we are not supposed to tailgate but tell that to Malaysian traffics). By the time for the tailing driver realise the mistake and ignorance of the front driver, time has been wasted for a lot of road users. In order to maximise productivity, every second counts!
Four. Don’t you miss the scenery?
Even when you the driver does not appreciate the scenery, your passengers might love the scenery of lush green forests and cold grey blocks. While the Malaysian government is trying to sell the country as a tourist spot on the tiny Blue Planet, we Malaysians are deprived (willingly) of the daily opportunities to appreciate the beauty of our motherland. When we ourselves do not know this “product” well enough, how are we going to “sell” it to people, especially the foreigners?
Five. Vampires!
No, this is not meant to be insulting or derogatory. I just do not wish to meet a vampire someday, and have to rally my werewolf buddies to aid. If you are allergic to sunlight or experiencing photosensitivity due to medications or health conditions, you have all the rights to get yourself certified and permitted to install dark tint including the front windscreen. And… it’s FREE!
On the flip side, you should be perfectly healthy to appreciate the sunlight (or street lights I guess). Just to let you know, a good amount of sunlight will trigger the synthesis of Vitamin D in your skin, where Vitamin D is necessary for your bones and health being. Yea yea I heard, the ultraviolet beams is damaging your skin, but you do know ultraviolet-proof tint, sunscreen and long-sleeve clothes exist right?
All right, this post comes later than it should be. The birth of my second child, a daughter has delayed the progress of most of my works. I may write about the life-changing event some day.