Upgrades to close traffic courts
All sites statewide will have computer systems upgraded
Star-Bulletin staff
Traffic courts on all islands will be closed to public business from Thursday through Nov. 4 for the installation of a new computer system.
Those who need to do business with the traffic courts should do so before Thursday.
All traffic arraignments, and traffic and DUI (driving under the influence) trials have been rescheduled, except for those held in custody.
Those who have traffic hearings scheduled during this period have been notified of new court dates. Traffic trials and DUI trials will resume Nov. 4. Arraignments will resume Nov. 7.
The Judiciary's mainframe computers also will be shut down from late Friday afternoon to early Oct. 31. During this time access will not be available to Ho'ohiki, the Judiciary's online database of circuit, family and certain district court civil case records.
During the closure, no drivers license or vehicle registration clearances will be issued, and no in-person or online traffic payments will be accepted.
Payments will be accepted through the mail, but they will not be processed until the new computer system is operating. No penalties will be charged if payments are postmarked by the due date.
Although traffic abstracts will be available for purchase, they will only show violations up to Friday.
Services and hearings related to criminal cases will continue as usual, as will civil matters involving small claims, regular claims, restraining orders and landlord-tenant cases.
When the new computer system is operational on Nov. 7, the public will be able to access case information as far back as 1994 via the Web site, www.courts.state.hi.us. Certified abstracts will contain information about moving violations dating back to 1994, which is a change from the current practice of providing only three years of data.
More features will be available as of Dec. 12, when the public will be able to pay for traffic tickets online or via a telephone interactive voice response system.
The new system will also give the public greater online access to nonconfidential information, enable the public to check for any outstanding traffic cases, ensure the information the Judiciary has is accurate and see if they must appear in court.
The transition involves converting records from about 3.6 million traffic cases stored in a computer system installed in the 1970s.
When fully phased in over the next several years, the new system will unify all the state's appellate, circuit, family and district courts through a single database.