Date:07/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/07/stories/2006010720400400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Police begin tests on tinted glass of cars

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: The city traffic police on Thursday tested more than 500 cars, vans and sports utility vehicles (SUV) for the opaqueness of their tinted glasses, at the B.R.V. Parade Grounds off Cubbon Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road.

The police personnel used a "light meter" to check the visibility through the front and rear windscreens and side windows. From January 15, the police enforce the rules under the Motor Vehicles Act that stipulate tinted glasses should not make it difficult for the police to notice who or what is inside a vehicle.

The decision was prompted by the gruesome murder of a woman BPO employee early in December when she was travelling in an SUV with tinted glasses. The law prescribes that the front and rear windscreens should have at least 75 per cent visibility and the side windows 50 per cent or more visibility. "We have asked the vehicle owners to make changes to conform to the law. The exercise will continue for a week more and we hope enough vehicle owners will voluntarily come," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, East) M.A. Saleem.

The testing will continue till January 14. A private agency has offered its services to test vehicle glasses for opacity.