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What I have a problem with is the passing of laws without any evidence that they are beneficial. As far as I am aware, there are no observational studies regarding overall safety and tinted windows. Can tinted windows hide potential criminal activity? Yes. However, whenever I get pulled over, the first thing I do is roll down all of my windows.
From 2003-2012, only 62 police officers died as a result of a traffic stop. During this time period, almost 100,000 people died as a result of skin cancer. There is a direct correlation between driving and skin cancer, as between 53-56% of skin cancers occur on the left or driver's side of the body compared with the right. That could mean as high as 10% of skin cancers are a result of driving. Want to know how to prevent those? Window tint with UV filtering. Other benefits include reduced window shattering/shrapnel during an accident, decreased risk of vehicle break ins, reduced UV damage to interior, and reduced need for cooling during summer months.
An additional reason that the lawmakers say is that it will "prevent accidents because pedestrians can make eye contact with the driver". There are no times on the road that eye contact with another driver or pedestrian is necessary in preventing an accident. Always assume that the other driver or person doesn't see you, it is called defensive driving.
As a physician, I fully support the use of illegal window tint. You can apply for a medical waiver in NY state, however only for the following conditions:
-Porphyria (1:10,00 or higher)
-Xeroderma pigmentosa (1:250,000 risk)
-"Severe drug photosensitivity"- now this one might have some merit to a lot of people. Guess which common medications can cause this- NSAIDS! Statins! Certain Antibiotics! Plenty of others! This is about the only way that I can see to get past this new law. I don't know how keen your physician might be in filling out a letter stating that your ibuprofen is going to cause severe phototoxic reaction, but it might be worth a try.
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