It may be because they don't comply with the regulations/Roadworthy Certificates. The tail and the brake lights must clearly shine red from certain distances and the tinting would change it. A quick Google search to try to confirm came up with this Are Tinted Tail Lights Illegal in Australia? What you need to know from the ADR's
Pretty sure we scared her off. But I have to agree with you guys.
I wish the tinted taillight fad would hurry up and die. Do you remember back in the 1970s when "raking" the car was the thing, using shackles and air shocks to raise the car's rear suspension? It was stupid and it hurt performance but it seemed like everyone was doing it. Then suddenly it wasn't a thing anymore. (Now the fad is to lower your suspension so much that you have to tilt your wheels and ride on the corners of your tires to fit them into the wheel wells. But I digress.) You could say the same for ground effects, blue lights, spinners, Plasti-Dipped wheels, all sorts of crap like that. At best they're just silly fads; at worst they're dangerous, like tinted tails.
The most common defense of tinted taillights is usually this: "People should be paying better attention if they can't see my taillights. It's not my problem, it's theirs." On a bright day, tinted tails can be almost impossible to see. But even letting that aside, do you want to be cool and get hit, or not cool and not hit? Because that's the choice. In the real world, the darker your lenses, the less visible the light, and the more likely it is that someone won't notice it. It doesn't matter if they should, it only matters whether they do.
I just spent an evening doing pretty much the opposite of this. I put high-visibility LEDs in my untinted stock taillight and turn signal housings. I do not want anyone not noticing my signals or tails.
The most common defense of tinted taillights is usually this: "People should be paying better attention if they can't see my taillights. It's not my problem, it's theirs."
Mmmm. The thing is as I get older I realise the importance of all I was told. In graphic design the lecturers went to great pains to reinforce the importance of legibility, type/font size, contrast, strobing, etc. The big thing here is colour coded car registration plates which once were illegal and are now actively promoted by the responsible government agency. I use the term 'responsible' very loosely. Emphasis is now on raising revenue. Pity help you if you're colour blind.
The other part of tinted taillights that nobody thinks of is that when they're not actively lit up, they're supposed to act as reflectors. Tinting them cuts their effectiveness as reflectors twice as much as it cuts the light of the bulb. That's because when the bulb is lit, the light is being cut on the way out, but when the lens is acting as a reflector, the light is cut both on the way in and on the way out.