DMV Cracks Down On Fraudulent Tint Waiver Documents

Dover -- The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has recently been encountering an increase in the number of cases in which drivers are falsifying documents which allow them to use excessive window tinting on their vehicles. This fraud is becoming a serious public safety hazard.

DMV Director Jennifer Cohan stated, "Window tinting is allowable by state law, however it does present certain hazards and safety concerns for the traveling public if abused. The DMV mission is to ensure that we have safe drivers and vehicles on our roadways, therefore DMV has stepped up its review process and secured the forms and processes related to obtaining tint waivers".

A medical tint waiver allows a vehicle to have legally tinted windows for an existing medical condition. There are currently 12,000 vehicles statewide that have an approved tint waiver registration. To protect the citizens of Delaware the DMV has instituted several measures to prevent fraud by making Tint Waiver forms (and all other documents and forms utilized by DMV) more secure. Some of these new features include using secure paper that cannot be altered or copied, as well as the placement of embedded security markers. In addition to increasing the physical security of forms, DMV staff has completed training to increase their abilities to recognize altered, fraudulent, or forged documents. DMV staff is also contacting doctor's offices to ensure that the information contained in the tint waiver application is accurate.

It was this training and new security steps that allowed Georgetown DMV staff to spot six forged medical tint waivers presented by five different people in the past month. DMV staff confirmed the waivers were fraudulent with each of the physicians that were supposedly approving the medical condition. In each case the physicians had no record of the patients claimed condition and denied signing the waiver forms. That information was turned over to Capitol Police who charged the five individuals with 2nd degree felony forgery.

The allowance for a tinted window waiver is found in Delaware Code Title 21, Section 4313. The Code explains how vehicle glass must meet federal safety standards, and that 70% of light must be able to pass through the car's windows.

The Department of Transportation and the DMV will continue to be vigilant in the fight against fraud in any form as it relates to motor vehicle documents and driver safety.