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Mopeds are also
allowed in bike lanes

Question: Is it legal to operate a motorized vehicle (motor bicycle, scooter, motorcycle or small car) within the boundaries of an occupied or unoccupied bike lane? For example, Kailua's 5-foot-wide bike lane on Keolu Drive?

Answer: There may be some confusion as to what vehicles, motorized or not, are allowed in a bike lane, because there is a distinction between a bike lane and a bike path.

In both state and county laws, a "bike lane" is defined as that part of a roadway set aside for the use of either one-way or two-way bicycle traffic, while a "bike path" refers to a pathway for bicycles and pedestrians, physically separated from motor traffic.

A "bikeway," meanwhile, is a general term referring to either bike lanes or paths.

That said, mopeds are the only motorized vehicles allowed in bike lanes, under 291C-197(a) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes: "Wherever bicycle lanes are provided on the roadway, moped drivers shall use such bicycle lanes."

So, not only are mopeds allowed to be in a bike lane, they are required to be there if there is such a lane, points out Chris Sayers, the city's bicycle coordinator.

However, no motorized vehicle of any kind, including mopeds, are allowed on bike paths, he said.

HRS291C-197(b) allows the state or counties to prohibit mopeds on bike paths, with "signs clearly visible to an ordinarily observant person indicating the restriction or prohibition ... placed along bicycle paths so designated."

Capt. Michael Correa of the Honolulu Police Department's Kailua District also pointed out that, under the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu, Sec 15-18-10(h), "authorized vehicles" are permitted only if there are posted signs.

He said people operating motorized vehicles that are not supposed to be in any bikeway may be cited, "depending on the signage."

But he noted that the bike lane you refer to is a relatively short, experimental one, a few blocks long, within a three-mile loop on Keolu Drive, from Wanaao Road to Hamakua Drive.

Because it is an experimental lane, he believes some people still may not be aware that it has been converted, at least temporarily, into a bike lane.

Q: Can you please remind parents that Halloween is for young children -- not teenagers -- and that they should only go to homes with their porch lights on? We are elderly people and we can't run to the door to give kids candy, so we hope that kids will not come to our house when our house lights are not on.

A: There actually are rules of etiquette -- mostly common sense -- for trick-or-treating and one is not to go to a house without a porch or outside light on.

A light is viewed as a sign of welcome, especially on Halloween night, which falls on Sunday this year.

Halloween has become a major holiday for adults to engage in dress-up and partying. Although trick-or-treating is more for the little ones, there's really no official cut-off age to enforce, such as saying "no teenagers allowed."

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