Helmets are essential safety equipment for all motorcyclists. Indeed, it is against the law to ride a motorcycle without being thus equipped, but, are they illegal to use?
Our colleague Hazril Hafiz, of paultan.org‘s Bahasa Malaysia site, recently spoke to Datuk Ir Haji Mohamad Dalib, director of Road Transport department (JPJ) automotive engineering division. He was asked what is the official JPJ stand on the use of tinted visors on motorcycle helmets.
“On paper, a visor on any helmet has to have 100% clear visibility. This means any visor darker than that is forbidden from use,” said Dalib. He emphasised this by pointing to his personal helmet that has a 100% transparent visor.
But, why is it forbidden? When asked if wearing a tinted visor – during daylight – be safer by avoiding eye strain and allowing for better vision and focus on road conditions and traffic, Dalib had this to say.
“The reason why is to determine who is behind the visor, more so if the rider’s eyes can also be seen,” he said. “This is to allow for eye contact with other road users, especially car drivers,” he continued.
According to Dalib, this is important to determine the rider’s intention, for example, when intending to exit an intersection. “Look directly at the other driver, and use hand signals before moving. This is most effective and safe, because there has been earlier eye contact,” he said.
Contrary to popular belief, the ban on tinted visors is not to avoid the committing of crime by motorcycle riders, even if this is the perception of some road users when seeing helmets with tinted visors. The rule on tinted visors is purely to ensure the safety of the rider, with any negative incidents being secondary and isolated matters, Dalib said.
Most visor manufacturers prohibit the use of tinted visors at night, though. This is due to the reduced visibility, and in the case of heavily tinted racing visors, night vision is almost non-existant.
There is the argument wearing sunglasses would be necessary if clear visors are used, with the possibility of shards entering the eyes should the glasses shatter in event of accident, although there is the option of using helmets fitted with an internal or external sunvisor. Additionally, if the rider is short-sighted, the use of sunglasses to cut glare is necessary as it is impossible to have a prescription visor made due to the compound curves of the design, though it is possible with goggles.
Also, if the windows of the car are tinted, eye contact with the driver would be impossible, rendering the point of making tinted visors illegal moot. What do you think?
Should motorcycle helmet tinted visors be illegal or does it serve a necessary safety function? Leave a comment with your thoughts and opinions below.
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I like the Iron Man helmet. If Iron Man can see, i don’t see any problem with this?
Larangan kapcai masuk KL bila nak mula??
Heavy tint: can see clearly at night, and can see clearly in rainy daytime?
Will it slow down reaction time?
Do u see Iron Man slowing down? Nope
Eye contact??
By the time u can see the other guys eye… most probably accident would be unavoidable..
Illegal or not.Safety is paramount.I used to wear a slightly tinted visor helmet.Daytime is ok.Night time and especially when it’s raining,it’s a nightmare.So now I use transparent visor with internal dark visor.Those double visor helmets.
Dose he ever ridding a bike?
Dont you read the article. Topkek
The amount of stupidity you showing probably come from head damage due to not wearing your helmet
Does not help here. wearing a sunglass as oppose to having a dark visor = same same, no eye contact. likewise car driver wearing sunglass,no eye contact. law shud amend, anyone caught driving tint visor or even sunglasses at night, say after 8pm should deem illegal
Why not just light up the internal visor like Iron Man?
This should be banned lah. So many bikers smash car windows and grab handbag from the car. All of them use tinted helmet.
The same with snatch thieves now. All use tinted cause they know everywhere got CCTV.
This tinted helmet must be banned completely. If you allow it, might as well legalise morphine and drugs also
With a helmet (eg. Full face with clear visor) on, u sure u can recognise d fellow if he would have smashed ur car window? Or snatch u?
Have u meet a thief that will show their face when they snatch u???? No one thief will show their face when they steal from u, if they don’t use dark visor, they will use scarf, mouth piece or stockings to cover themselves, so that they will not been seen, why not banned stockings,mounts piece and scarf too… better yet banned sunglasses also… just because of one bad apple, all must be punish????
Deswai I said; bashers dun use brains, they use bollocks
how would you know? has it happened to you?
I use tinted visors and don’t use drugs or whatever
PDRM got no facial recognition software like overseas? If they don’t it is very worrying cause it would mean PDRM is 10 years backward.
In overseas, any CCTV capturing a face can recognize the identity of the offender immediately. In Malaysia, this would be even easier since we have IC system.
With this in mind, it should be an offence to conceal’s one’s face.
But I suspect our PDRM don’t have facial recognition otherwise, they will be able to saman and catch the thousands of motorbikes that beat the red light.
So, where does the saman money go to? It should be used to better the PDRM with latest tech to prevent more crime.
The onus is on the rider to ensure their own safety as best as they could. Which insane person would use a tinted visor during night riding? As for eye contact with other road users, a good rider will always indicate his/her intentions. The argument by JPJ don’t hold water. Majority of motorcyclist in Malaysia wore open face helmet, and yet collisions and fatalities continue to rise. It is a matter of discipline of the rider, and not so much of whether a tinted visor or not will reduce the danger faced by motorcyclist.
Exactly
Tint or no tint, its better than riders not wearing helmet at all!
Well said. Also better than those don’t have licence or suka suka keluar, change lane without any signal.
Aiya…..cars with heavy tinting windows are all over Kuala Lumpur. Nothing happened, and the authorities were sitting on their butt, as usual.
This problem has been going for ages….longer than can I could remember.
Now, suddenly talk about tinted visor for bikes???
Please la….
The point is moot as in the day I ride or drive with sunglasses… what eye contact then..? n who does hand signals anymore..?
How many accidents have there been these past 10 years with the riders wearing tinted visors helmets compared to those without tinted visors..? Does the JPJ director have the statistics..?
Yet another safety feature that 95% of road users just don’t get it. I support the reason for not using tinted visor but just how many eye contacts I can make on the roads with the surplus amount of mangkuk behind the wheels?
He is definitely not a rider. !…Eye contact with other vehicle? He must be living in the 60s. The law has to change, bike dun travel at 10kmj. Nowadays, tinted cars prohibit the eye contact at all…
tinted visor is not allowed because of eye contact??!
I have never learned that or told that when I got my motor license. look for eye contact before switching Lane or coming of a junction?!
I doubt any car driver is expecting my eye contact as well.
further more, under the glare, my eyes will close so small leaving just a thin line gap… how to eye contact?
and usually when I have eye contact with other fellow road user, is already mau cari gaduh sudah. so the tinted visor actually act as a counter for gaduh.
wearing tinted visor at night? thats just plane dumb. if the person is so stupid to endanger himself, he / she probably won’t understand the law anyway.
Hello!!!!! Anyone of these people ever ride a bike especially in Malaysia??? These tinted visor actually help protect against the intense sun rays that we have in Malaysia and in the night, help protect against those illegal car headlights which can be extremely bright!!!! use or don’t use of tinted visor should be up to the riders…
Car tint normally is to reduce heat… rarely is to reflect the glare. And car tint also need to follow the VLT rules. So the amount of light that go through is reasonable. But for those tinted helmet, they are almost completely dark (low VLT) and is very dangerous to use at night. Unless the visor can be easily changeable like sunglasses, I still think it is better not to allow tinted visor. (I’m a biker myself btw)
Of coz the eye contact thing is complete BS.
You can talk till the cows come home and yet nothing would happen. Where is the enforcement? Where is JPJ ?
Millions spent and I still see heavily tinted windscreens, non standard HID lights and oversized rims Hellaflush crap.
As long as we have a whimpy enforcement,
this will be another coffee shop talk.
Satu lagi teh tarik boss !!.
Eye contact phwaa, your more likely to end up in a fight with eye contact these days, someone needs to get with the times.
I ride & I drive, my full face and my open face helmets both have dark visors integrated & if the authorities dont like me using them theres nothing they can do to stop ne wearing the darkest shades I want to, it’s education to all road users that’s needed now that the decent weather is here (uk) drivers need to be aware that the number of bikers will increase “ignorance will cost lives”
Cars should be allowed full black tint and that applies to motorcycle visors as well. Why? To each his own.
Jpj – idiots in uniform with no brain whatsoever
“There is the argument wearing sunglasses would be necessary if clear visors are used, with the possibility of shards entering the eyes should the glasses shatter in event of accident”
I don’t agree with this statement. First off, the visor is suppose to withstand a direct impact to it without breaking. It is suppose to protect the face from such a crash. If it does not then the helmet & visor are of poor quality. From my own personal experience, I have gone over the handlebars of a motorbike at speed face first into rocks. The only reason I am alive was that the visor held. I was wearing glasses at the time and they did not shatter.
If vision is the issue.
Then riding or driving with adaptive or transition lenses is also illegal.
if the visor is 100% clear but the rider wears a sunglass under it, is it still illegal?
No because the legality is specific to the helmet otherwise has to be spelt out clearly
In the end means…..cannot wear fullface and fullface is illegal! Shit!
No need helmet or seatbelt. Malaysian now all smart alec.. let them determine if their life is at risk.
Who make eye contact while riding bike? Duh..! To determine intention summore?
So, JPJ should banned everyone wearing sunglasses while riding/driving.
Eye contact? Phew what BS is that. I for one certainly does not ride, but I can certainly understand why a biker would want to have dark tinted visors, it’s the same reason why I’d rather have tinted windows on my car! The glare of the sun is already annoying enough and to initiate eye contact with other road users? Such BS I’d be concentrating on the lights on the car, the turn signals, brake lights/reverse lights and how erratically the driver is driving. Eye contact with another driver is the least of what I’m concerned with. Plus, Malaysia being Malaysia, me being a male trying to make eye contact with another female driver on the road will surely raise some eyebrows! Cause y’knw, Malaysia truly Asia where majority of the public doesn’t seem to have enough mental capacity to process anything, even our lawmakers!
the guy that the fellow Paultan.org’s rep is interviewing, obviously never ridden the bike on a daily basis, in ALL weather condition
yeah he can show his “personal helmet” but that still won’t justify anything
its just another money making scheme by jpj,dont saman the rider instead saman the shop selling it…if there is no supplier the will be no buyer