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Kokua Line
Question: Isn't fixing traffic tickets illegal? A police officer issued a ticket to a driver of a Pontiac. The driver asked another officer to "fix" the ticket. Shouldn't the canceling of the original ticket be done only by the officer who issued the ticket? As a responsible driver, I and many others do not ask police to fix traffic tickets. Why should certain individuals be given preferential treatment? It’s against the law
to ‘fix’ traffic ticketsAnswer: It is illegal to fix a traffic ticket and the Honolulu Police Department's Internal Affairs Division would like more information to investigate your allegations.
Only the issuing officer can cancel a ticket, and then only if the ticket was issued in error, said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu.
Otherwise, the recipient of the ticket has to either contest it in traffic court or pay the fine.
A check with the Traffic Violations Bureau showed that no ticket was issued to the vehicle with the license number you provided, Yu said. Thus, there is no record of an "original ticket."
Any more information, such as the name of the officer allegedly involved, or the date, time and place of the violation, would help, Yu said. You can call Internal Affairs at 529-3286 (you can remain anonymous) or call Kokua Line, 525-8686.
Q: I was away for six months and just got back. My car needs a safety inspection. But when I went in to get it checked, I was told they don't have any stickers because they were ordered late. When are they going to get the stickers so I can drive my car?
A: The stickers finally were received last week and have been distributed to all inspection stations, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation said yesterday.
It earlier was reported that 69,000 stickers for January were ordered late because the person who usually handled the orders had retired.
More on license plates
There are a lot more than 9,999 possible combinations for each series of three letters and three numbers on a Hawaii license plate, acknowledged Dennis Kamimura, city Motor Vehicle and Licensing administrator.In the Jan. 7 Kokua Line, Kamimura said 9,999 combinations were possible in each license-plate letter series, although that number is never hit because certain groupings were not allowed.
However, in answer to a couple of readers who questioned the figure, Kamimura said he had misspoken. In the series that starts with EAA for example, the city issued 15,994 different combinations beginning with EAA 001 and ending with EAZ 999.
Also, to the one reader who wondered why he had never seen the FCF combination, it's because it was never assigned. In the early 1990s, the city issued plates beginning with the letters FCE and FCG, but for some now unknown reason, it skipped the FCF combination, Kamimura said.
In addition to the letters H, K, L, M and Z, the city does not issue plates that begin with the letter I, he said.
Auwe
To the driver of a red BMW driving like a maniac about 9 p.m. Dec. 10 on Pensacola Street. You jumped lanes two at a time, almost sideswiping four cars; tailgated cars as you tried to get to the freeway ramp, almost causing at least two accidents on a wet and dangerous night. If you enjoy playing with your toy like that, please play someplace by yourself -- maybe Kahoolawe. -- No name
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com