Kokua Line
By June Watanabe
Thursday, September 24, 1998
Kokua Line
Isn't there a law/restriction on having heavily tinted automotive windows and that this was done to help pedestrians get across the street more safely? The idea is that the pedestrian would be able to "eye" the driver to get visual assurance from the driver that he is going to wait until the pedestrian crosses the street. I see many new cars with tinting so dense that no kind of eye exchange can be made, making crossing the street increasingly risky. Dark car windows block
pedestrian eye contactThere are federal and state laws on how dark car windows can be tinted, but they apparently don't have anything to do with allowing eye contact between driver and pedestrian.
The state allows a much darker tint than the federal law, a minimum of 35 percent light transmittance, according to John Lovstedt, the Department of Transportation's highway safety manager.
That's "pretty dark," especially compared to the federal standard, which calls for about 75 percent light transmittance, he said.
The basic consideration for the state is "heat in vehicles," Lovstedt said.
Enforcement is supposed to be through annual vehicle safety inspections. Certified safety inspection stations are equipped with light meters and owners of vehicles with tints pay an additional $5 or so to have the windows checked for compliance.
Police could enforce the law, as well, Lovstedt said, but it would be more difficult for them to prove violations because they don't carry any testing equipment.
Lovstedt also cautioned that eye contact alone "is not worthy of as much confidence" in safety as people may give it.
He noted a study of motorcycle crashes, especially involving drivers who turned left in front of motorcyclists.
Many motorcyclists typically would say they had looked the car driver in the eye before the crash, while the driver would say they never even saw the motorcyclist, Lovstedt said.
Drivers "are kind of programmed to look for big objects, for car-sized objects and trucks," he explained. "Motorcycles are so small that a person can look at it, but it just doesn't register. The same thing can happen with pedestrians -- just having eye contact doesn't mean it's registering with (drivers)."
Lovstedt said pedestrians would do well to do something, such as raising their hands, to get an overt response from drivers instead of just relying on eye contact. "That's the safest way for pedestrians to do it," he said.
Isn't it illegal to park your car on an overpass? Specifically, I saw a whole bunch of cars parked on Kaamilo Street -- over the freeway -- in Aiea one day. I've also seen cars parked on that overpass when there are football games.
Honolulu's Traffic Code prohibits parking "upon or beneath any bridge or other elevated structure upon a highway or within a highway tunnel, except that widened portion of Tenth Avenue under the Lunalilo Freeway overpass."
That prohibition is one of more than two dozen listed in Article 14, Section 15-14.1: "Stopping, standing or parking prohibited in specificed places -- No signs required."
Call 911 to report any violations.
To Steve Young with the city planning department. I needed information on Kuliouou Valley to present to a neighborhood board meeting and he was so courteous, patient and helpful. -- L. Kim Mahalo
To the two nice people who let me use their cellular phone when I was stuck on the Pali Highway at midnight. I did not have enough time to really thank them because I was talking to the police. God bless you. -- Brian Miyamoto Mahalo
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