Report Title:

Relating to motor vehicles

 

Description:

Changes the minimum headlamp height requirement from 24 inches to 22 inches.  Deletes the requirement that a license plate be attached no lower than 12" above the ground.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1427

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 249-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  Upon an original registration the director of finance shall fix, and shall charge to the owner, a fee equal to the cost of the number plate and tag or emblem plus the administrative cost of furnishing the plate and tag or emblem and effecting the registration.  Upon the issuance of a new series of number plates as determined by the directors of finance of each county through majority consent, the director of finance shall charge the owner a fee equal to the costs of the number plate plus the administrative cost of furnishing the plates.  Upon issuing a tag or emblem, the director of finance shall charge the owner a fee of 50 cents.  The owner shall securely fasten the number plates on the vehicle, one on the front and the other on the rear, at a location provided by the manufacturer or in the absence of such a location upon the bumpers of the vehicle and in conformance with section 291-31, in such a manner as to prevent the plates from swinging [and at a minimum of twelve inches from the ground].  Number plates shall at all times be displayed entirely unobscured and be kept reasonably clean.  In the case of trailers, semitrailers, or motorcycles, one plate shall be used and it shall be fastened to the rear thereof at a location provided by the manufacturer or in the absence of such a location at the rear thereof, and in the case of motorcycles in conformance with section 291-31."

     SECTION 2.  Section 291-25, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  From thirty minutes after sunset until thirty minutes before sunrise, every motor vehicle moving upon any public highway shall carry at the front thereof at least two lighted head lamps which shall display white lights of equal candle power.  The head lamps shall be securely mounted, not less than [twenty-four] twenty-two inches nor more than fifty-four inches above the road surface when measured to the head lamp center, on a rigid part of the vehicle designed specifically for head lamp installation by the manufacturer, and so arranged, adjusted, and constructed that, when the motor vehicle is fully loaded, any pair of headlights under the conditions of use shall produce a light sufficient to reveal any person, vehicle, or substantial object on the highway straight ahead of the motor vehicle for a distance of two hundred feet.

     The light when measured at a distance of one hundred feet directly in front of the motor vehicle, and at a height of sixty inches above the level surface on which the motor vehicle stands, shall not exceed two thousand four hundred apparent candle power, nor shall this candle power be exceeded at a greater height than sixty inches.

     When measured at a distance of one hundred feet ahead of the motor vehicle and seven feet or more to the left of the axis of the same, and at a height of sixty inches above the level surface on which the motor vehicle stands, the light shall not exceed eight hundred apparent candle power."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

BY REQUEST