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                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 3085

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                                                            AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

 

                                                                            C 304 L 85

 

 

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

 

By Senators Patterson, Peterson, Barr and Garrett

 

 

Read first time 1/16/85 and referred to Committee on Transportation.

 

 


AN ACT Relating to the application of coloring material to vehicle windows; and amending RCW 46.37.430.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

        Sec. 1.  Section 46.37.430, chapter 12, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 157, chapter 158, Laws of 1979 and RCW 46.37.430 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) On and after January 1, 1938, no person shall sell any new motor vehicle as specified herein, nor shall any new motor vehicle as specified herein be registered thereafter unless such vehicle is equipped with safety glazing material of a type approved by the state commission on equipment wherever glazing material is used in doors, windows and windshields.  The foregoing provisions shall apply to all passenger-type motor vehicles, including passenger buses and school buses, but in respect to trucks, including truck tractors, the requirements as to safety glazing material shall apply to all glazing material used in doors, windows, and windshields in the drivers' compartments of such vehicles except as provided by ((paragraph)) subsection (4) of this section.

          (2) The term "safety glazing materials" means glazing materials so constructed, treated or combined with other materials as to reduce substantially, in comparison with ordinary sheet glass or plate glass, the likelihood of injury to persons by objects from exterior sources or by these safety glazing materials when they may be cracked or broken.

          (3) The state commission on equipment shall compile and publish a list of types of glazing material by name approved by it as meeting the requirements of this section and the director of licensing shall not register after January 1, 1938, any motor vehicle which is subject to the provisions of this section unless it is equipped with an approved type of safety glazing material, and he shall thereafter suspend the registration of any motor vehicle so subject to this section which he finds is not so equipped until it is made to conform to the requirements of this section.

          (4) No person shall sell or offer for sale, nor shall any person operate a motor vehicle registered in this state which is equipped with, any camper manufactured after May 23, 1969, unless such camper is equipped with safety glazing material of a type approved by the state commission on equipment wherever glazing materials are used in outside windows and doors.

          (5) No tinting or coloring material ((of any kind, which)) that reduces light transmittance to any degree, unless it meets standards for such material adopted by the state commission on equipment, shall be applied to the surface of the safety glazing material in a motor vehicle in any of the following locations:

          (a) Windshields,

          (b) Windows to the immediate right and left of the driver including windwings or,

          (c) Rearmost windows if used for driving visibility by means of an interior rear-view mirror.

          The standards adopted by the commission shall permit a greater degree of light reduction on a vehicle operated by or carrying as a passenger a person who possesses written verification from a licensed physician that the operator or passenger must be protected from exposure to sunlight for physical or medical reasons.

          Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the use of shaded or heat-absorbing safety glazing material in which the shading or heat-absorbing characteristics have been applied at the time of manufacture of the safety glazing material and which meet the standards of the state commission on equipment for such safety glazing materials.

          (6) The standards used for approval of safety glazing materials by the state commission on equipment shall conform as closely as possible to the standards for safety glazing materials for motor vehicles promulgated by the United States of America Standards Institute in effect at the time of manufacture of the safety glazing material.


                                                                                                                           Passed the Senate April 22, 1985.

 

                                                                                                                                       President of the Senate.

 

                                                                                                                           Passed the House April 18, 1985.

 

                                                                                                                                         Speaker of the House.