Question: If I am in a car exiting a parking structure that crosses the King Street bike lane, who has the right of way? Me, or bikes coming from either direction? For safety’s sake, I say it should be me, in the car, because it’s so hard to see coming out of those parking structures and the bicyclists can see better. They have a clear view and should wait.
Answer: The law sees it the other way around. Bicyclists riding in either direction in the protected lane that extends along King Street from Alapai Street to Isenberg Street have the right of way, per Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-4.
That law states that the driver of a vehicle about to enter or cross a road (including a bicycle lane or bicycle path) from an alley, building, private road or driveway, shall yield the right of way to all vehicles or bicycles approaching on the road (including a bicycle lane or bicycle path) that is about to be entered.
So you should yield to oncoming traffic, bicycles included, whenever you exit or enter a parking garage that crosses a traffic lane — not just those adjacent to the King Street Protected Bike Lane.
Q: How can I find out if someone suspected of several recent neighborhood break-ins was arrested?
A: Assuming that the suspect is an adult and because these are recent crimes, you may be able to find out by checking the Honolulu Police Department’s booking log online or in person.
Check 808ne.ws/hpdlog for Oahu arrest logs dating back about two weeks. If the incidents are not quite that recent, you can go to HPD’s Alapai headquarters, 801 S. Beretania St., and look at the booking log. It is kept at the front entrance and is available for viewing 24 hours a day. Hard copies in that clipboard generally date back several months.
These public logs list the arrested person’s name, gender and race; the date, time and location they were arrested; the alleged offense and other information.
Q: Auwe! I saw on the news about a law to keep the bus stops clear but the homeless person who took over the one I use is still there.
A: The law doesn’t take effect until June 14, 120 days after Honolulu’s mayor signed the measure. The Honolulu Police Department and the city’s Department of Transportation Services will start enforcing it then.
Under the law, it is illegal to lie down in a designated bus stop between 4 a.m. one day and 1 a.m. the next, which is when Oahu’s bus system “is primarily in operation.”
Auwe
Drivers getting onto the H-1 heading east (King Street/Hawaiian Humane Society) and heading west (Old Waialae Road) need to realize that they do not have the right of way getting onto the H-1. They are merging into someone’s lane. … Recently, I was a passenger in the right lane heading west; we were planning to take the University offramp. A black Suburban came onto the freeway from the Old Waialae Road onramp and did not stop, so we were both in the right lane. I looked at the driver, and he was only focused on looking into his (driver’s) side-view mirror, not realizing that we were next to him and he was in our lane, and he had no intention of stopping. Before he drove into us, my driver had no choice but to stop and almost get hit by the car behind us, since this Suburban was totally oblivious …. Drivers should realize that on onramps like these, they are entering the freeway, and the cars on the H-1 have the right of way. Entering vehicles must yield to the cars that are established in the lane, not force their way or assume that a car will slow down to let them onto the freeway. Nor should they keep going until they run out of merge space and then stop, which causes another type of traffic hazard. — Concerned Driver
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
