Durban motorists driving vehicles with heavily tinted windows face running up some stiff fines, or could even end up without wheels.
While the provincial traffic police have been prosecuting this "offence" for 10 years or so on the freeways, Durban Metro Police have now joined the campaign after taking delivery of the right equipment to measure tint density - and are coming down hard on offenders.
More than "a dozen" vehicles had been suspended in the past month for sporting excessively tinted windows, the two traffic departments warned.
A vehicle is suspended when the tint on the windows exceed the legal limit. The licence disc is removed and the motorist is instructed to get the tint reduced. Once the windows are given the all clear, the licence is returned.
The reason the law is coming down hard on motorists is to protect them, so that they can be seen when in danger, and to protect the security personnel, who cannot see the occupants behind dark windows when they stop and search vehicles at roadblocks.
But many motorists, including taxi owners, who favour tinted windows, are objecting to the reasoning behind the clamp down.
Danny Naidoo, a Chatsworth Taxi Association taxi driver, wanted to know why, if the law on tinted windows had been in existence for 10 years, officials were only clamping down now.
"We never had a problem until recently when several of our taxis were pulled over and their licence discs removed," said Naidoo.
He said their drivers had been told they could only get the discs back once the window tint was removed.
"When I phoned the Metro Police to enquire about the clampdown, I was told it was because the security forces were trying to combat hijackings and armed robberies.
"This is nonsense because a hijacker could be sitting next to you and holding a gun without the police even realising it," he said.
Colin Govender, speaking for the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI), confirmed that they had stepped up their clampdown on excessively tinted vehicle windows.
"We have always stopped vehicles with tinted windows, but because of the potential threat of attack posed to other motorists and security force members we have stepped up our campaign.
"It is against the law to have windows tinted to such an extent that the occupants are not visible to people outside the car.
"According to the Road Traffic Act vehicles are allowed a 75 percent tint on the front and back windows while a 35 percent tint is allowed on the side windows," said Govender.
He said if the tint exceeded this the vehicle's license disc would be removed and the vehicle suspended.