[StrictDabbler]

Where do you live?

It's currently 112 F where I am and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Humidity is very low so water isn't absorbing radiation.

Nobody is riding a bicycle or walking long distances six months of the year here, except for the unhoused, and they can only move at night. Cars are mandatory to participate in the economy.

A car with un-tinted windows is impractical for two reasons: solar heat and UV.

The A/C can be running full blast and my legs will still get hot. Normal side window glass doesn't block UV well so I can get a sunburn with my windows closed.

I have to equip my windows with dark tints. It's like a Canadian putting on snow tires except I can't change it out with the seasons.

So my state doesn't have laws against tints because it can't. Ok, so I drive to another state in my car... now I'm breaking the law.

You can say "human beings shouldn't live in such a place" but first, about 114 million Americans live in similar conditions, and second, these conditions are moving north.

Protecting the occupants of a car against solar radiation is a reasonable thing to do.

[tonightstoast]

That is interesting. The high desert is my current location so it's "only" 105 but with the same low humidity. I find that a sunshade massively reduced any issues that I had with the idleness of the vehicle. But I'll give you that the heat is horrible.

I suppose my rebuttal is: how many months do you feel like tint is necessary? I grew up with routinely high temps (100+, in an area with high humidity). In college our first few weeks were normally 100+, and we did walk to class. I normally would come back with swamp ass and a back covered in sweat. People absolutely can live in these conditions. I just don't think we can remove the human element of it. It's hot, we are going to sweat. It feels like we are trying to control an element of human nature that cannot be controlled.

Edit: I appreciate the reply. Apologies if I sound snarky (as another commenter apparently thinks). It's truly just that the only people I know with tinted windows have been controlling and manipulative. The experiences I get on the road do not help my anecdotal stereotypes.

[StrictDabbler]

I don't think you sound snarky. I think it's easy to look at an issue like this through a cultural lens. Heavy tint is indeed popular among jerks.

As for necessity, studies suggest that skin cancer rates vary according to the side of the road a country drives on. [1] So even if you're tolerating the radiation it's still hurting you.

It's also important to remember that paneled vans are legal. They are taller than any car and the visibility through them is 0% because there are no side windows. Frequently the back window is covered or blocked by equipment.

You pretty much have to assume you can't accurately see through any vehicle. Seeing the driver's eyes can be useful, but it can be misleading... I've been hit on roller blades by a driver who'd stopped and was looking right at me but didn't process I was there.

I think every car on the road has to be treated like a panel van. Big opaque block that can kill you and will act unpredictably.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117975/

[throwaway290]

Wow that is a lot of F. It's 95 (105 real feel with humidity) here in tropics but people and bicyclists are out. I don't drive but not having issues you describe sitting in a nontinted air conditioned bus

[FireBeyond]

> You can say "human beings shouldn't live in such a place" but first, about 114 million Americans live in similar conditions, and second, these conditions are moving north.

> It's currently 112 F where I am and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Humidity is very low so water isn't absorbing radiation.

114 million Americans live in conditions where it is regularly 112 in the summer?

[StrictDabbler]

No. It doesn't always hit 112 F. Temperature is a function of sensible and latent heat.

So Dallas, for example, is only 84 F with a humidity of 83% right now at 9:23 AM central. That's a heat index of 95 F. The high temperature will be 100 F but the high of the heat index will be 110 F.

Corpus Christi recently hit a heat index of 125 F.

It all works out the same. It's brutally hot for months somewhere in every Southern state (including California). These states should all allow tint and account for 114 million people.

[bradknowles]

Thing is, you can block both IR and UV light, without impinging on the visible light spectrum.

The UV light will cause things inside your car to break down faster, and of course the IR is what carries the heat.

So, you don't need dark tint to block IR. You just need a different filter material.

[mensetmanusman]

Visibly transparent effective IR blockers are quite expensive due to the optics involved.

[bradknowles]

Thing is, the dark tint isn't that great at blocking IR. It's blocking more visible light than IR.

So, yeah -- the stuff that actually blocks IR is more expensive. But if you really want to block IR, then that's what you should be getting.

Otherwise, if you're getting the dark tint, then you should be honest with yourself about what it is that you're primarily blocking.

[unmole]

Modern automobile window tints do a very job of keeping heat out without impacting visibility. Where I live, temperatures cross 45C every summer. Heavily tinted car windows are banned and we manage just fine.