NEW YORK
Chapter 775, Title III, Article 9, Section 375, Subdivision 12-16
12. It shall be unlawful to operate on any public highway or street in
this state any motor vehicle registered in New York state unless such
vehicle be equipped with safety glass wherever glass is used in doors,
windows and windshields. For the purposes of this subdivision, any
device other than a trailer, which is attached to or carried upon a
motor vehicle and which lawfully can be occupied while the motor vehicle
is in motion, shall be considered a part of such motor vehicle.
12-a. (a) Every motor vehicle, except a motorcycle, when driven or
operated upon a public highway, road or street shall be equipped with a
front windshield in a fixed and more or less upright position
constructed of safety glass as defined in subdivision fourteen of this
section and required by subdivisions eleven and twelve hereof. No person
shall drive any motor vehicle with any sign or other nontransparent
material other than a certificate or paper required to be displayed by
law upon the front windshield or the sidewings or side windows on either
side forward of or adjacent to the operator's seat.
(b) No person shall operate any motor vehicle upon any public highway,
road or street:
(1) the front windshield of which is composed of, covered by or
treated with any material which has a light transmittance of less than
seventy percent unless such materials are limited to the uppermost six
inches of the windshield; or
(2) the sidewings or side windows of which on either side forward of
or adjacent to the operator's seat are composed of, covered by or
treated with any material which has a light transmittance of less than
seventy percent; or
(3) if it is classified as a station wagon, sedan, hardtop, coupe,
hatchback or convertible and any rear side window has a light
transmittance of less than seventy percent; or
(4) the rear window of which is composed of, covered by or treated
with any material which has a light transmittance of less than seventy
percent. A rear window may have a light transmittance of less than
seventy percent if the vehicle is equipped with side mirrors on both
sides of the vehicle so adjusted that the driver thereof shall have a
clear and full view of the road and condition of traffic behind such
vehicle.
(c) Any person required for medical reasons to be shielded from the
direct rays of the sun and/or any person operating a motor vehicle
belonging to such person or in which such person is an habitual
passenger shall be exempt from the provisions of subparagraphs one and
two of paragraph (b) of this subdivision provided the commissioner has
granted an exemption and notice of such exemption is affixed to the
vehicle as directed by the commissioner. The applicant for such
exemption must provide a physician's statement with the reason for the
exemption, the name of the individual with a medically necessary
condition operating or transported in the vehicle, the specific
condition involved, and the minimum level of light transmission
required. The commissioner shall only authorize exemptions where the
medical condition certified by the physician is contained on a list of
medical conditions prepared by the commissioner of health pursuant to
subdivision sixteen of section two hundred six of the public health law.
If such such exemption is granted, the commissioner shall make a record
thereof and shall distribute a sufficiently noticeable sticker to the
applicant to be attached to any window so shielded or altered pursuant
to such exemption.
(d) The commissioner may test any window for a person who has been
charged with violating this subdivision. If such window is found to be
in conformity with this subdivision, a small label attesting to the
conformity shall be affixed to the window tested.
(e) On and after January first, nineteen hundred ninety-two, no person
shall manufacture, sell, offer for sale, equip or operate a motor
vehicle in this state in violation of the provisions of this
subdivision, except that a person may operate a nineteen hundred
ninety-one or earlier model year vehicle without violating this
subdivision if the windows on said vehicle were in conformity with this
subdivision as it existed on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred
ninety-one.
(f) The commissioner shall make such rules and regulations as he shall
deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this subdivision.
13. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to
replace glass in doors, windows, or windshields of motor vehicles unless
such replacement be made with safety glass.
14. The term "safety glass" as used in this section shall be construed
to mean any product composed of glass, so manufactured, fabricated or
treated as substantially to prevent shattering and flying of the glass
when struck or broken, or such other or similar product as may be
approved by the commissioner.
15. The commissioner of motor vehicles shall maintain a list of types
of glass approved by him as conforming to the specifications and
requirements for safety glass as set forth in this section, and shall
not issue a license for or relicense any motor vehicle subject to the
provisions of subdivisions eleven and twelve unless such motor vehicle
be equipped as therein provided with such approved type of glass.
16. The owner and operator of any motor vehicle operated in violation
of the provisions of subdivisions eleven and twelve shall be guilty of a
traffic infraction. In case of the violation of such subdivisions by any
common carrier or person operating under a permit issued by the public
service commission (or other authorized body or person), said permit
shall be revoked, or, in the discretion of the commissioner, suspended
until the provisions of such subdivisions are satisfactorily complied
with.
