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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
State will put driver’s
manual on its Web siteQuestion: Shouldn't the Hawaii Driver's Manual be available on the Internet for free? If the point is to have safe drivers, I don't see why it would be absent from the city's Web site -- www.co.honolulu.hi.us/csd/vehicle/dlinformation.htm -- which says: "You should review traffic laws and rules of the road. You should study the Hawaii Driver's Manual prior to tests. (Manuals are available at local bookstores and state libraries.)"
Answer: We contacted the city Department of Customer Services about your suggestion and was told the city can't just put the Hawaii Driver's Manual online because it is copyrighted by the state transportation director.
In fact, the first page of the manual says, "No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the director of transportation of the state of Hawaii."
We asked the Transportation Department about your suggestion and were told that posting the manual online is an idea whose time has come.
Hagadone Printing Co. has the Transportation Department's contract to print the driver's manual, and the company is in the process of digitizing it as well, said transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
"Depending on how quickly the company can get it done, the driver's manual could be posted on our DOT Web site next year," he said.
Ishikawa said he will let "Kokua Line" readers know when it happens.
And once that happens, the city Motor Vehicle and Licensing Office says it could then create a link from its Web site. Stay tuned.
Q: Why aren't the parking meters at Kapiolani Park and Honolulu Zoo monitored all the time? I walk around Kapiolani Park every morning, and all the meters are blinking -- no one is paying for parking. If this was enforced, there would be revenue that could add up for the city.
A: This is another situation in which you can't please all the people all of the time.
The meters are checked frequently, and, in fact, other people have complained that enforcement is too rigorous in that area, according to Capt. Jose Gaytan, of the Honolulu Police Department's Traffic Division.
He points out that while the meters in the Honolulu Zoo parking lot are supposed to be fed 24 hours a day, the ones along Kalakaua Avenue, on the makai side of Kapiolani Park, are required to be fed only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
HPD recently received a complaint from a City Council member's office about the parking situation along Kapiolani Park on Kalakaua, so the department monitored the situation from Sept. 25 to Oct. 6.
The result: It was revealed "we had extraordinary enforcement," Gaytan said.
He noted that many people who park in that area have disabled-parking placards, which allow them to park for free in the metered stalls for up to four hours at a time.
Gaytan said he would pass on your complaint to the parking enforcement office, which falls under HPD.
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