I know of that rule well. It's called pacing. A cop doesn't need to get you on radar or anything like that. All he has to do is follow you and gauge how fast you were going. In that case, yes, his word would be stronger than yours. However, that has nothing to do will illegal search and seizure. I understand the nexus you were trying to establish with the fact that the cops word outranked the citizen's in this case, but again, that has nothing to do with illegal search and seizure.

It's hard to conceptualize, but "pacing" has been established as a proper method of gauging speed in almost every state. Thus, since there is common law precedent establishing that point, it is the "law". Different story for search and seizure seeing that the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled on this area of law. I think I would go with the SCOTUS on this and say that the cop's word would not be greater than yours if he in fact did conduct an illegal search.

That story makes for good news though

 

After reading through everyone's posts, it seems the biggest worry is that you wont be able to see a pedestrian crossing the street and that you'll run them down. I can understand that but I don't agree. If you stick with 50% or lighter on the front windshield, you shouldn't have any issues at all. I've had people drive my car, including my mother and father who are both ~60 years old and wear corrective lenses, drive my car at night without even questioning it. Note that they do not know nor have they ever noticed or questioned my front windshield being tinted.

I've had front ws tint on my car for about 2 years now and have not had any issues what-so-ever. I've always been able to see where Im going and pedestrians too. The problem in my car is the side front windows that are tinted at 7% which makes it very, very hard to see on some dark back/side roads. If there is ever a question, I simply roll my windows down and proceed cautiously.

I have driven other cars without tinted front ws's and have noticed that headlights and sunlight is a lot brighter and more annoying but I never think to myself, "if only I didnt have front ws tint, I'd be able to see so much more."

As for the law, I've been pulled over numerous times, 5+, in the past couple of years for various things (speeding, front window tint, no plate, etc), but I've never had a single officer even flinch at my windshield; they didn't even notice it. I've received tickets for speeding, no plate, side windows tinted, etc, but never even a comment on the windshield. I have two friends, one in AZ and one in my area (SD, CA) get pulled over and have had the officer comment on the windshield but only one of them got a fix-it for the ws; all the officer did was write a normal front side window fixit ticket and then right under that violation he wrote "front windshield too". I think part of the reason cops don't notice is because they don't know to look. Its such a rare thing for a front ws to be tinted, they don't look nor even think about it even when its right in front of them.

Honestly, the front ws tint only helps me. It cuts down on the glare of the sun off of cars and other objects and helps take the brightness out of direct sun light. Also, speaking of night time driving, the front ws tint helps cut down on the blinding headlights on the opposite side of the road; especially two-lane roads/highways.

Moral of the story, 50% seems to be a good balance of great visibility and good looks. People that are unaware of the front ws tint don't even notice it from the inside or out.

 

Good points, thank you.

*spinning around in circles*

 

I got pulled over once while traveling to AZ from Vegas. I was on the AZ side and the cop pulled me over for tint, but never walked past my front door. He did the tint meter and all, but I don't think he ever saw my front window. Cops usually dont walk to the front of the car.

 

A good traffic lawyer would get you out of this by asking the officer to show proof of the last time the speedometer on his cruiser was last calibrated and certified.

 

I wear Ray Bans instead of tinting front windshield (left in car at all times in sunglasses holder) w/35% tint on all other windows.

 

do you think cops will notice?

 

73% tint, no.

 

5% all windows and 50% on WS and never a problem..... Florida sun is extreme

 

Creative, but unfortunately it doesn't, and wont, work. Now, if the cop car was 15-20 years old it might be a winning argument.