Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Retrieving a towed car
proves a costly endeavorQuestion: There's no lack of towing taking place on the North Shore. All you have to do is miss the sign that's angled back and away from the otherwise poorly marked tow zone above Waimea Bay and, presto! your car is gone. To add insult to injury, there's no indication anywhere near the signs as to who towed the vehicle or whom to contact to get it back. We had to walk to Foodland across from Pupukea Beach Park (where they were nice enough to let me make a call, since my phone and wallet had been in the vehicle) and contact police to find out. Would you believe there's no place to tow a vehicle to on the North Shore, so it was towed to Wahiawa? A $65 towing fee, $30 storage fee and $84.50 (!) mileage fee later (plus the $1.50 scenic bus ride from the city), and I had my vehicle back. Of course, I also still have to pay the $30 ticket ($55 if I wait 15 days). I'd like to think I could contest this literal highway robbery in court, but that'd probably just cost me more. Shouldn't the local government at least be required to post signs indicating who's towing the vehicles away and where they're being towed to? Also, are there no limits that can be placed on arbitrary fines and fees?
Answer: On public roadways, neither state nor city law requires the posting of signs indicating where your vehicle was towed to or who towed it.
As you discovered, you have to call police to get that information, said David Mau, the city's assistant motor vehicle and licensing administrator.
It's a different matter for private property.
For private parking lots, the law says you have to have a towaway warning sign that specifies the provision under which a vehicle can be towed, as well as the name, address and phone number of the towing contractor, Mau said.
The reason for this is because the property is "policed" by the private landowner, he said.
But on public property, "it stands to reason that (a vehicle) will only be ticketed by duly-authorized law enforcement officials," Mau said. On a public street, the only requirement is for a sign indicating a towaway zone.
Mau also explained that the city has different contractors for different zones and, depending on where you are, a zone can be fairly compact or quite spread out.
In your case, the closest tow yard from the North Shore was in Wahiawa.
"When we let out the tow-zone contracts, it means exactly that -- by zones," Mau said. "We try to cover the zones within the police department beat areas. We also look at the number of potential tows in a certain area."
The zone in the downtown area is relatively small because of its density and the higher occurrences of tows while the windward zone, by comparison, stretches from Makapuu Point to Kahuku, he said.
In the city's eyes, having a car at Waimea Bay towed to Wahiawa is not considered far. "It's not as if (a driver) had to come all the way to Honolulu or Hawaii Kai to pick up a car," Mau noted.
As for towing fees, state law (Hawaii Revised Statutes 290-11) sets maximum limits. You can check what you were charged against the current rates, which are: $55 a tow, or $65 for a tow using a dolly, plus $6.50 per mile towed, and $15 per day or part of a day for storage for the first seven days and $10 each day after.
If a tow is made between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday, or from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday, the towing company "shall be entitled" to an overtime charge of $15.
Q: With the Hawaii State Farm Fair opening this weekend, can you clarify the policy for E.K. Fernandez rides? My family attended the 50th State Fair in June and went to ride the mini rollercoaster in the children's section. We were told that each rider had to pay. My child is under the height requirement for riding alone. The two previous times we rode, only one rider paid when the adult accompanied the child. I questioned the people selling the ride tickets and they said it was up to the operator handling the ride. There was no sign indicating "all riders must pay" as clearly posted for the Skyliner ride. Is there a policy regarding adults accompanying children who are under the height requirement? We don't think it's fair to let ride operators make that decision as it is inconsistent. They should post a sign stating the policy at each ride.
A: There is a policy and "the policy is that every person who rides a ride must pay," said Donna Smith, vice president for E.K. Fernandez Shows.
"If the ride operator previously allowed them to ride without pay, then the ride operator was breaking company policy," she said. "It is not up to a ride operator to determine that."
As far as the ride height restrictions, "we just follow the recommendations that are provided to us by the ride manufacturer," Smith said.
Mahalo
To my son's guardian angels, Aaron Kim and David Monaghan, both from Mililani Middle School eighth grade. They helped pull my son, Robert Shaw, out of Waimea Bay on June 30. He misjudged a wave and hit it the wrong way while sandsliding, breaking two bones in his leg. Mahalo also to the lifeguards, ambulance crew, and Dr. Langen and nurses at Kaiser Moanalua, who were wonderful in putting him back together again. Much aloha. -- Jane Shaw, Mililani
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