- Hawaii Police Department - https://www.hawaiipolice.com -

Police remind motorists of vehicle safety regulations 04-25-03

HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
TRAFFIC SERVICES SECTION
SERGEANT RANDY K. APELE
PHONE: 961-2305
APRIL 25, 2003

MEDIA RELEASE

Big Island police are reminding motorists that they will continue ticketing unsafe cars and trucks that violate vehicle regulations.

Sergeant Randy Apele of the Traffic Services Section said enforcement efforts to curtail speeding and road racing at speed checkpoints over the past week in South Hilo have resulted in the issuing of 163 citations for regulatory violations, 24 citations for speeding and 15 arrests, including one for drunk driving.

Apele noted that most of the citations for regulatory violations were issued to vehicles with illegal window tints, with rear window stickers that obstruct the driver’s visibility, with excessively loud mufflers and with wide tires extending outside the fender well.

“Most of the vehicles officers ticket have multiple violations,” Apele said. “It is common for the import cars to have window tint, loud muffler and other regulatory violations. These are also the vehicles often found speeding or burning rubber.

“The whole point is that the modifications made to these vehicles make them unsafe, and the motorists’ driving habits put other motorists in danger. We ask for their cooperation in curtailing these activities.”

Apele said police will continue to set up speed checkpoints islandwide to reduce speeding and unsafe vehicles on Big Island roads. They will also check for safety violations, he said.

According to Chapter 251-21.5 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, all windows on automobiles must meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 205, which states that the windows must allow at least 35 percent of light to pass through.

On trucks, the minimum is 35 percent transmission on the front, passenger and side windows and 20 percent transmission on the rear sides and rear window.

The front windows of all vehicles are allowed to have a darker tinted strip at the top of the window extending down to the “AS-1” mark, usually about four to six inches from the top of the window.

Motorists or tint shops found to have installed illegal tints on vehicle windows face a fine of $50 to $250 for each separate offense.

In addition, Section 24-102 prohibits motorists from driving any motor vehicle with any “sign, poster, or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, side wings, or side or rear windows of the vehicle which obstructs the driver’s clear view of the highway or any intersecting highway.”

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