Being American brings with it the spirit to do things your way every single time; tinting your car for example. And while there is something to be said for libertarianism, total lack of regulation is but anarchy.
Window tinting is not regulated at federal level however and so it is crucial to understand the state in which you drive and therefore tint your car as per its laws. Today we take a deep dive into the situation in Kentucky.
The specifics of the article range from the general standards in regards to window tinting darkness and then window tint reflection laws. From there, I tackle general provisions that I think you will find important to know about too– enforcement provisions as a case in point.
Finally, we will explore a couple of insights which though not particularly law related, are pertinent in highlighting the context in which everything that we will have seen up to that point arise.
In Kentucky, the first law about tinting cars first came in place in 1994. There have since been amendments and modifications ever since all of which I have considered in my research. You can be sure then that this final reflection only captures the aspects of law that are still in enforcement.
You will also realize as you read that every now and again, I make reference to the standards of regulation in other states. It is my hope that I will in doing so give you an idea of how restrictive or otherwise the provision at hand is generally speaking.
Finally, I never want laws not to be accessed just because of communication hindrances. I have thus made sure that I break down the law in very simple terms. One does not have to have gone through law school thus to appreciate the content of this essay.
Kentucky Window Tinting Darkness Laws
Window tinting darkness is the most famous branch of window tinting i.e. it is what most people think about when they are told about tinting. The way it works is that dark film will be placed around the windows of a car and then it will literally block some of the light that comes its way from passing through it and therefore reaching the occupants of the vehicle.
It is not the case however, that all tinting darkness films block the same amount of light. This brings us to the concept of visible light transmission also known as VLT. It refers to the percentage of light that a car’s tint allows inside.
VLT is measured is measured in percentage with the highest figure reflecting tint that allows lots of light into the vehicle onto which it is attached. If a given tint has 90% VLT thus, and the other 40%, then the former allows more light through windows than the second.
Legislators thus use VLT numbers when proscribing which tint darkness windows to be used where. In order to arrive at this however, there will usually work on the basis of two main factors. The first regards the kind of car that one is looking at. This bracket mainly entails two things i.e. the purpose of the vehicle or its structure. Let us the example of law enforcement vehicles.
These will often be allowed to use low VLT levels as opposed to the rest of the cars the rationale being the need to protect the privacy of officers.
Because these guys will often find themselves rubbing shoulders with nefarious actors given the nature of their work, they are at a high risk of having their private lives disrupted.
Moreover, there is a guarantee that the averting of these fears would in no way lead to abuse since the number of the said is few and therefore easy to make.
The second consideration regards the position of windows on the car. Whereas these windows may appear on the same car, they actually play different roles which would make it absurd if the same VLT standard was asked of them.
Take the windshield for example, it plays a very distinct role of enabling the driver interact with the part of the road ahead of the car.
Because the vehicle is usually driven towards the front therefore, law makers will often insist that more lighting is allowed through the said window as opposed to the rest.
The said factors notwithstanding though, it is not always the case that states will follow both of them. At the times they will go with only one of them or even neither. With Kentucky however, both of them play out as we will now proceed to see;
- Sedans
Windshield: tint is allowed only above the manufacturer’s AS-1 line. The said tint should be non-reflective.
Front side windows: a minimum of 35% VLT must be allowed.
Backside windows: a minimum of 18% VLT must be allowed.
Rear window: a minimum of 18% VLT must be allowed.
- SUVs and Vans
Windshield: tint is only allowed above the manufacturer’s AS-1 line. The said tint should be non-reflective.
Front side windows: a minimum of 35% VLT must be allowed.
Backside windows: a minimum of 8% VLT must be allowed.
Rear window: a minimum of 8% VLT must be allowed.
Kentucky Window Tinting Reflection Laws
Tint reflection is the less known part of tinting i.e. most people simply do not know it. This is not to mean in anyway however, that it does not work. If at all, tinting reflection is better than darkness in some aspects.
I would therefore advise that the next time you are going to tint a car, you don’t rule it out from the get go. Instead, you should tell a professional about your specific aims first. You might be surprised that tint reflection achieves them best.
Unlike tint darkness, reflection does its thing by diverting some of the light rays that come its way just like the name suggests. Tint reflection is also measured in percentages. The higher the figure, the more the amount of light the tint in question will reflect. As such, legislators will want to keep reflection percentages down as much as possible.
It is also because of this fact that there is more reason to legislate this bracket of tinting than the one discussed earlier.
Notice that if any bad practices under window tinting were to result into a materializing of the associated risks e.g. accidents coming about from blurry vision, then the owner of the car will be directly affected since it is them that will be driving the car.
On the other hand, creepy tendencies under tint reflection will instead impact innocent third parties i.e. the persons looking at the car from the outside. As a result, there is particularly no direct incentive on those that tint the cars to behave themselves unless they are good people. And of course, no law maker would count on that.
Coming to the factors that will determine how reflection standard is determined, they do not differ from those explained under window tinting darkness i.e. the type of car that one is looking at and then position of the windows on the car.
Again, it is never the case that both of these are always followed. For Kentucky, only the latter (the position of windows) is considered. Here are the specific terms;
Front side windows: not more than 25% tinting can be used.
Backside windows: not more than 35% tinting can be used.
Other Kentucky tinting Laws
If you were to stop reading at this point, you can be sure that you would have got the laws that make the bedrock of tinting regulation in Kentucky.
I hope you go on and go through this section though since it looks at provisions that I know bring more nuance to one’s understanding of both tinting darkness and reflection in Kentucky.
To be sure, I am not at all intending to talk about everything there is in regards to these laws. First, that would be impossible to do but secondly, and for me most important, is that the same is not called for.
- Restriction on colors: Kentucky restricts no colors when it comes to tinting. This means that you can place any shades of color that you like on your car windows. Whereas there states whom like Kentucky leave coloring to the desecration of car owners, usually there is restrictions on colors that are considered to be more shouting than others.
This is understood to be a way of reigning on the distortions that these colors a prone to cause. The approach taken by Kentucky however is a counter mechanism that emphasizes control at the level of reflectivity rather than color.
- Side mirrors: Kentucky mandates that if a car has its rear window tinted, then side mirrors be installed on either side of the car. Whereas there are states that have no equivalent requirements, they are in the minority. Perhaps the slight difference in Kentucky is that most moderate states only make side mirrors compulsory when the rear window is tinted with 0% VLT.
That said, one quickly sees the rationale for why Kentucky takes the side mirrors issue as important i.e. the rear window would ideally be the place where the driver keeps up to speed with the environment behind the car.
- Certificates and Stickers: Kentucky asks that manufacturers certify their film. Certificates in the context of window tinting refer to documentation issued by manufacturers to the persons that buy their film as a way of confirming that the products in question comply with the applicable laws. It comes in handy when its accountability time e.g. when you have been pulled over for illegal tinting and law enforcement is trying to establish who it is that is at fault.
Stickers play more or less the same role as certificates with the major difference being about portability. Rather than carry paper work thus (in the case of certificates), a driver would simply have a sticker attached to their car. Again, Kentucky makes stickers compulsory. Drivers have to place them on the door to their side.
In this case, Kentucky becomes rather restrictive. Most mandate none of these documents. Others ask only for either.
- Tint variance: tint variance refers to the maximum VLT or reflection percentage allowed below that which is asked of in law without having the offending person fined or jailed as the applying circumstances may be from scenario to scenario. In Kentucky, that figure is at 3%.
Please note that in enforcement of this law however, officers are always going to inquire into motive i.e. they would want to be sure that you did not tint your car darker or in a way more reflective than that expected of you because you knew you would always rely on this provision.
- Medical exemption: generally speaking, it is now accepted across the United States that there are categories of persons for whom their health conditions would be exacerbated if they were asked to keep with the VLT or reflection standards asked of everyone else. In most cases, these are folks with skin or eye complications. Unfortunately, Kentucky does not allow medical exemptions whatsoever.
The good news is that there is a practical way out for you should you be one of these individuals. You can always wear clothes that cover the whole of your body if you are battling skin problems or sunglasses in the case of eyes.
- Penalties: all forms of window tinting violations are considered Class B misdemeanors in Kentucky meaning that they are civil matters. In simple terms, this means that you cannot be sent to jail over any of such offences. Instead, you will only pay a fine. Law enforcement will ask you to remove/replace the tint which has been found to be illegal.
The sums of fine will vary in weight depending on a number of factors. One of them regards to whether you are being pulled over for the first time or not.
Repeat offenders will be penalized more consequentially. On the other, hand, you might not even have a single penny asked of you if it is your first time. You might only be cautioned.
Another intervening factor is your demeanor. Because officers are only human, they are likely to get pissed off if you come off as arrogant when being questioned and therefore, they will retaliate.
Okay then, we have now covered everything we had to regarding the laws. I felt it important too to also share some general information about window tinting which I know that will help when the time comes for you to determine whether you are going to tint your car or not.
That way you do not have to make yet another scanning of your search engine looking for other writings to read.
- Subtle advantages: many people know that tinting helps keep privacy which is a factual claim yet not the most interesting if you asked me. Did you know that tinting helps keep the inside of your car intact for instance? The upholstery that is, electronics, dashboard et al. It is also helps keep the inside of your car cool.
- Tinting in suits: a car’s degree of tinting can be a big determinant in cases to do with car accidents. If one’s lawyers can establish that the person on the other end had their windows tinted by VLT or reflection percentages that violate state law and that such violation played a part in the incident at hand, then they can successfully place blame on them from which they can go ahead to ask for compensation.
Kentucky State info
The state is officially known as the Commonwealth of Kentucky and it seats on roughly 104,000 km sq. This makes it the 37th largest state nationwide.
Kentucky’s capital is Frankfort. Other cities located in the state include; Hazard, Hopkinsville, Covington, Elizabethtown, Somerset, Harrodsburg etc.