New regulations on tinted car windows

I refer to the letter by Mr J. Micallef (The Sunday Times, December 5).

It is true that, under the Motor Vehicle Regulations, the fixing of tint on a vehicle glass requires a permit from the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) and it would be illegal to fix such tint without the said permit.

One has to admit, however, that a number of vehicles are being imported with the glass already tinted and our law is not clear in defining whether such tinting is according to law or not.

To clarify the matter and bring our legislation in line with that of other countries, the Authority has just drafted new regulations which will be published shortly to regulate the tinting of vehicle glass and to ensure that the windscreen and front side windows do allow a minimum of 75 per cent of light to be transmitted through them from either direction.

The new regulations will also provide for visual light transmission through the rest of the vehicle glass (rear most window and rear side windows).

The regulations will ensure that the vehicle glass is not tinted beyond the point where, for safety reasons, the driver's ability to see the road around the vehicle is restricted. One has to understand that excessively tinted glass can prevent eye contact being made and may thus prevent drivers from seeing other motorists or pedestrians.