Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Big Isle police
crack down on illegal
vehicle lighting

---

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

HILO -- Big Island police officer Christopher Gali was surprised recently when he saw a parked car with bright blue headlights turned on.

The owner must have known he was doing something wrong, because when Gali drove up to ticket him, the man ran to turn the headlights off.

At Gali's urging, the Hawaii County Police Department is warning motorists that any blue light on a private vehicle, or any red light other than a tail light, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and $1,000 fine.

Gali said shopping mall security guards have told him about cars left parked with blue headlights flashing.

In those cases, the lights were apparently part of a car security system, but still illegal, Gali said.

Car enthusiasts drill holes into the area of the headlights to place the blue lights there.

Although the blue lights are not in the same place where police cars display them, all Big Island police drive their own personal cars, so their blue lights are the only way to distinguish them from civilian cars.

Another practice of car enthusiasts is to replace red brake-light lenses with white lenses, and then put red bulbs there, Gali said.

That is also a violation of the County Code, Gali said.