Window Tint

Farmer_3650

I had a 15 inch sunstrip on my focus for the last year. Today, I was stopped at a checkpoint and made take it off. My question is, What is the legal limit for a sunstrip when there is no black mark on the windscreen?

Higgins5473

As far as I know in Ireland legal tint on Front and front side is so minimal you can barely see it and its pointless getting it done.

Failed an NCT on A4 front window side tint that was so faint that I did not even know it was even tinted for the 3 years I had it. When it was removed, didn't notice the difference either.

pippip

But there's a difference between a window tint and sunstrip. Alot of cars come with a sunstrip of sorts as standard.

According rsa anything that goes below the top of the wipers reach is deemed an obstruction of sight so that seems to be the limit

Visors are ignored as they are only temporary.

CorkCBR6

Don't know how true it is but heard the sun strip shouldn't cover anywhere the wiper reaches

pippip

Do you mean 15 inches or cm?

15inches would nearly be half your windscreen, no?

Farmer_3650

pippip wrote: »

But there's a difference between a window tint and sunstrip. Alot of cars come with a sunstrip of sorts as standard.

According rsa anything that goes below the top of the wipers reach is deemed an obstruction of sight so that seems to be the limit

Visors are ignored as they are only temporary.

Guard at the checkpoint showed me the black mark on the windscreen of his i40, which he said is the legal limit for a sunstrip. I would say it was about 6 inches down from the top.

Farmer_3650

pippip wrote: »

Do you mean 15 inches or cm?

15inches would nearly be half your windscreen, no?

No I mean 15 inches, was About a third of the windscreen mabye a bit more.

Farmer_3650

.

Heres Johnny

It's a lot of obstruction to be fair.... If it is an obstruction??
Can you see through it much from the inside?
At first glance I'd say that's probably illegal and rightly so, although I don't know the law on this one...

Farmer_3650

Heres Johnny wrote: »

It's a lot of obstruction to be fair.... If it is an obstruction??
Can you see through it much from the inside?
At first glance I'd say that's probably illegal and rightly so, although I don't know the law on this one...

Its not an obstruction at all. It is illegal the way it is, despite being 100% safe. It is as easy see through it as it is a normal windscreen during the day. In fact, it is easier see as it stops the sun from blinding me. At night it is not as clear, but the tint ends above my eye level so what is seen through the tint doesn't matter. Road can be seen perfectly.

Del2005

Farmer_3650 wrote: »

.

That stripe is way to dark for the front windows, if you look at a few cars you'll see that some have a factory tint about 10cm from the roof you're way to far down the window to be legal.

colm_mcm

Jaysus - Illegal number plates, illegal sun-strip, padre pio sticker and wheels that are at risk of falling off. That’s Connect 4. Please say those are yellow fogs too.

Farmer_3650

colm_mcm wrote: »

Jaysus - Illegal number plates, illegal sun-strip, padre pio sticker and wheels that are at risk of falling off. That’s Connect 4. Please say those are yellow fogs too.

Are number plates not legal once they have IRL on them?
Wheels are 100% according to local garage
Yes the fogs are the original yellow:)

colm_mcm

Are number plates not legal once they have IRL on them

No. I’m surprised they didn’t do you for them.

Farmer_3650

colm_mcm wrote: »

No. I’m surprised they didn’t do you for them.

Are you sure them plates are illegal. He took a picture of them to check up about the car and never said a word about them

colm_mcm

Farmer_3650 wrote: »

Are you sure them plates are illegal. He took a picture of them to check up about the car and never said a word about them

They definately are illegal. Sure the letters and numbers are half the height that they should be and there’s no heiphens between the numbers and letters

Farmer_3650

colm_mcm wrote: »

They definately are illegal. Sure the letters and numbers are half the height that they should be and there’s no heiphens between the numbers and letters

Didn't think that mattered once the IRL was there. Thanks for letting me know.

Tenzor07

Car license plates have to meet the legal requirements, otherwise you can be summonsed to court:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1992/si/318/made/en/print

13. The placename shall appear in black letters above the identification mark and each letter of the placename shall have a height of not less than 12 millimetres and a stroke width of not less than 3 millimetres. The total width of the space taken by each letter (other than the letter I) shall be not less than 9 millimetres. Where an accented vowel occurs in the placename the length accent character shall have a height of 2 millimetres above the letter. The distances between the nearest parts of adjoining letters shall be uniform. Where the placename comprises more than one word the distances between the nearest letters of adjoining words shall be uniform and not less than three times the distance between adjoining letters.


14. The identification mark shall appear in black characters and each letter or figure shall have a height of 70 millimetres and a stroke width of 10 millimetres. The total width of the space taken by each letter or figure (other than the letter "I" or the number "1") shall be 36 millimetres. The distances between adjoining letters and adjoining figures shall be uniform and shall be not less than 8 millimetres.


15. The distance between the inner edge of the blue background of the flag of the European Communities and the first letter of the placename shall be equal to the distance between the last letter of the placename and the inner edge of the black border on the right-hand side of the plate and shall be not less than 8 millimetres.

And the front window strip is an obstruction to a clear view.

astrofool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wSRYbWJvU

AlfaZen

OP was pulled for this and probably rightly so. However we all still are legally required to obstruct our windscreens with 3 pieces of paper to prove we have given the government and the insurance cartels our money.

Del2005

AlfaZen wrote: »

OP was pulled for this and probably rightly so. However we all still are legally required to obstruct our windscreens with 3 pieces of paper to prove we have given the government and the insurance cartels our money.

I've never been in a situation where the 3 discs affected my driving. They are in the bottom left of my screen and don't obstruct anything, where are you putting yours that they cause an obstruction when driving?

Witcher

Unless you're sharing the road with a few of these badboys your discs aren't obscuring anything.

Farmer_3650

AlfaZen wrote: »

OP was pulled for this and probably rightly so. However we all still are legally required to obstruct our windscreens with 3 pieces of paper to prove we have given the government and the insurance cartels our money.

I have no problem with them on the windscreen at all. Doesn't obstruct my view in any way and is important to be in a place that is easily accessible to a guard. Pity they don't focus more on these lads going around with no tax, nct or insurance and less time giving people fines for "illegal" plates and "illegal" tints which pose as a threat to absolutely no one. While I was stopped yesterday, 5 or 6 cars were pulled, asked for a license and told they can go. Not one of the windscreens was checked.

colm_mcm

Those sunstrips are like a huge neon sign that says “stop me”

Farmer_3650

colm_mcm wrote: »

Those sunstrips are like a huge neon sign that says “stop me”

100%. The guard actually told me I was drawing attention to myself and luckily enough he was sound enough about it.

On a seperate note, I was told to bring my license and registration into the local station within the next 10 days. What is meant by registration? I assume it is the registration certificate of the car. Mabye someone on here knows. Thanks.

colm_mcm

You sure it wasn’t insurance they needed? Licence and registration is what cops look for in America.

Farmer_3650

colm_mcm wrote: »

You sure it wasn’t insurance they needed? Licence and registration is what cops look for in America.

No he definetly said registration details. Ill bring insurance details to be safe aswell though.

colm_mcm

Get them to note it in their diary/book as well.

Farmer_3650

colm_mcm wrote: »

Get them to note it in their diary/book as well.

Why’s that?

80j2lc5y7u6qs9

Dont you have to be able to see intoo. It is dangerous when someone is pulling out and you can't see if they are looking that they have seen you. Or see if they are waving you on. Cops don't do their job re plate especially the clowns with northern type yellow rear

colm_mcm

Farmer_3650 wrote: »

Why’s that?

Because it has often happened that you could get a summons despite having produced at the station

AlfaZen

Del2005 wrote: »

I've never been in a situation where the 3 discs affected my driving. They are in the bottom left of my screen and don't obstruct anything, where are you putting yours that they cause an obstruction when driving?

I did not say they affected my driving, just that I'd prefer if they were not there. With today's technology there is no need from them. I have them in the bottom left also but I prefer them in the top left but with my factory tinted sun-visor they cannot been read clearly in that position.

Del2005

Farmer_3650 wrote: »

No he definetly said registration details. Ill bring insurance details to be safe aswell though.

Bring everything licence, nct cert, insurance and VLC. Make sure you get a PULSE receipt when you produce, they haven't used a book for years.

Del2005

AlfaZen wrote: »

I did not say they affected my driving, just that I'd prefer if they were not there. With today's technology there is no need from them. I have them in the bottom left also but I prefer them in the top left but with my factory tinted sun-visor they cannot been read clearly in that position.

The UK abolished tax discs and their evasion has exploded. The mark one human eyeball and paper is still the best method for making sure that the vehicle is legal.

Holly Rapid Gown

Holly Rapid Gown wrote: »

Dont you have to be able to see intoo. It is dangerous when someone is pulling out and you can't see if they are looking that they have seen you. Or see if they are waving you on. Cops don't do their job re plate especially the clowns with northern type yellow rear

No, someone looking at you or waving to you means nothing.

They look a bit stupid but I don’t really get why the sun strips are illegal really as they are not obstructing the road in anyway. The sun-visor causes much more of an obstruction when down.

pippip

I'd say low sun strips are illegal for the same reason window tints on a windscreen are.

According to this window tints are illegal as -

There are also enforcement issues for An Garda Síochána in regard to driver
recognition and the detection of driving offences e.g. holding a mobile phone while driving and other criminal activity.

https://www.rsa.ie/Documents/VS_Information_Notes/Vehicle_Parts/FAQs%20on%20Window%20Tinting.pdf

AlfaZen

Del2005 wrote: »

The UK abolished tax discs and their evasion has exploded. The mark one human eyeball and paper is still the best method for making sure that the vehicle is legal.

There was an increase when the the physical paper disc requirement was removed in 2014 however, this has been trending back down for the past 2 years. The current rate of vehicles without valid Road Tax is 1.6% (2.5% in Northern Ireland).

This "explosion" of evasion as you call it could be down to a number of reasons including the fact that people no longer have a physical reminder in their window.
The fact that it is trending back down would indicate that the bedding in process is coming to an end and people have adapted to the change.

The eyeball method can be fooled by fake or doctored discs where as the NPR system is a live Database.

Think of the money that could be saved without millions of discs been processed and sent through the mail each year.

UK DOT information on Road Tax Evasion.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/847426/vehicle-excise-duty-evasion-statistics-2019.pdf

With regards to the Irish evasion rate according to a Special report in 2015 this is not even tracked but it was estimated to be 5%.

Motor tax controls
The level of compliance with motor tax regulations is not monitored or reported.
Analysis by the Department of Transport of vehicles on the M50 motorway in 2010 and
2011 indicated a motor tax evasion rate of around 5%, but that analysis has not been
repeated due to data protection concerns. Therefore, there is no current estimate of the
motor tax evasion rate and the impact of changes to regulations governing off-the-road
declarations has not been ascertained. There is also limited validation of the
information provided when taxing a vehicle.

https://www.audit.gov.ie/en/Find-Report/Publications/2017/Special-Report-97-Administration-and-Collection-of-Motor-Tax.pdf

But yea our "Eyeball" method is much better for making sure vehicles are correctly taxed than what they have in the UK and other countries.