JEDDAH, 1 February 2005 — A possible ban on using dark blinds on car windows has young motorists rushing to car accessory shops to take off the blinds before police force them to do so and slap a big traffic ticket on them.
Arab News visited car accessory shops and met with young Saudis taking shades off their cars.
Salem Al-Subhi said, “I am taking the blinds off before I get a ticket. The decision is good although many innocent families will be affected by it. Sadly, some teenagers abuse other people’s privilege by fixing extremely dark blinds on their windows to a level a police officer cannot see what’s inside. I have shades on my windows for one reason — to protect the interior of my car from the sun. On the other hand teenagers do it for fun.”
Saleh Al-Shamrani said, “Shaded rear car windows are allowed for family cars only and the decision to ban them on small cars is totally understandable. I think the decision must be enforced for security reasons. There is no logical reason behind teenagers shading their windows, because they do not need it.”
The new rule issued by the traffic department a few months ago states that drivers should have 75 percent visibility and make sure it is not dark to the extent police officers cannot see what is inside.
“You have one year to take off your darkened windows including your rear window if your car was purchased from outside the country and came with darkened windows,” said Capt. Khaled Al-Zahrani of Jeddah Traffic Department.
He added that if one has darkened blinds on one’s car windows which was fixed here in a car shop they should be taken off immediately.
Muhammed Abdulrahman said, “This is the third time I take my shaded windows off. I paid money to put it on and now I am paying to take it off. In both cases, I am paying and accessory shops are making money out of it. I will not shade my windows anymore because it is safe to be on the safe side.”
Muhammed Abdullah, an accessory shop owner, said, “We follow the decision of the traffic department and we are not installing shaded glasses anymore. The ban is for national security reasons. Some teenage customers come to the shop to install shaded blinds on their front window, which is against the law. Many families will be affected by the ban and I hope that the traffic department will make some exceptions to families.”
