SHARE Share Button Share Button SHARE

Tint testing trials start

The road to the banning of heavily tinted windows on vehicles is still shrouded in darkness even though it appears that some low-key testing is taking place.

A few unsuspecting members of the public found themselves having the tint on their vehicles being tested this week.

It was part of the training in preparation for the banning of heavy tints on vehicles announced in September last year by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and followed up with a ministerial statement by Attorney General Dale Marshall on December 17.

Police sources confirmed that equipment had arrived and there was some testing being carried out, but it all was supposed to be quietly done as they await a roll-out of the experiment prior to the law being enacted.

The tint meter, a small rectangular device, is attached to both sides of the vehicle window to give a reading of the light being transmitted through it. Based on the reading, motorists will find out whether they are in breach of the law.

However, how dark – or light – the legal requirement is has not been determined as the proposed amendment to the Road Traffic Act to deal with that aspect has not been taken before Parliament.

When contacted yesterday, Senior Superintendent with responsibility for traffic, David Welch, said he would get back to the Weekend Nation on the matter but admitted that the meters were in the island.

During his ministerial statement, Marshall said the amended law would come into effect from January 1, but a grace period of three months would be granted before the Barbados Police Service officers and other related agencies enforced the law.

However, the amendment to deal with the structure of possible tint offences remains on the House Order Papers and it is unclear when debate on the issue will take place in the House of Assembly and the Senate before proclamation.

At the time, Marshall said the country wanted the best tint meters, which were en route to Barbados, and any action would be deferred until they were in hand. The plan was to debate the legislation in “early January” and the regulations would go into effect immediately thereafter to support the work of the police.

Mottley announced the ban on thick tints at a time when the country was besieged by violent shootings, including a mass shooting in Nelson Street, The City, when three people were killed and several others injured and other fatal shooting incidents in which children were wounded.

At the time, the statistics were 38 homicides for the year and police said a third of them was committed by people under 21 years. The authorities attributed those spate of shootings to about 15 people.

Mottley warned at the time: “I’m not prosecuting anybody, I want money . . . If you are involved in behaviour that leads to those tints still being there such that the police or anybody passing through cannot see you and you believe that you can just drive around with impunity and shoot and do what you want to do, start paying some fines.”

Since that time there have been 50 homicides for 2024, 49 murders and a case of manslaugher. ( AC)

SHARE Share Button Share Button SHARE