The government says it has no plans to ban the use of window tint on vehicles despite recent incidents of child deaths due to being left in vehicles. While acknowledging the possible role of darkened windows in such incidents, transport minister Anthony Loke said it was not feasible to ban tinting as a response, as the Malay Mail reports.
“Tinted windows are an option; we are not asking everyone to put tinted windows. For parents with small kids, they are being advised to not put tinted windows (on their cars),” he said. “It is necessary for certain people, for health reasons, for security reasons. We cannot just because of one problem, ban the entire thing,” he added.
Loke was commenting on women, family and community development minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri’s remarks about the matter made earlier this week. She said there have been suggestions from the public that banning dark window tint can prevent such cases of negligence. She added that such a ban can only be issued by the transport ministry and that she had already put forward the suggestion to Loke.
The issue arose after three children passed away in the span of two months, after being left in vehicles by their parents. In October, an eight-month-old girl died after being left in a car parked in Canselor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, when she was mistakenly left in the vehicle by her mother, a doctor at the hospital, thinking she had already sent the child to daycare.
In the same month, a 16-month-old girl died after being found unconscious in a car at a public university in Kuala Nerus, Kuala Terengganu, and initial investigations found that the child’s father had forgotten to send the child to daycare at the university campus before beginning work at the same university.
The most recent incident cited was the death of a two-year-old last week, after she was left alone in a car for eight hours, and initial investigations in this case found her mother had dropped off two other children around 7am that day. The mother then proceeded to the two-year-old’s kindergarten, but received a phone call upon arrival and forgot about the child in the car
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