HB2622

Report Title:

Seat belt use

Description:

Exempts passengers in taxicabs from the mandatory use of seatbelts and child passenger restraints.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2622
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

Relating to mandatory use of seatbelts.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 291-11.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (b) to read:

"(b) Operators of the following motor vehicles shall be exempt from the requirements of this section: emergency, commercial, and mass transit vehicles[.] and taxicabs. Further exemptions from this section may be established by the department of transportation pursuant to rules adopted under chapter 91."

2. By amending subsection (f) to read:

"(f) As used in this section, "emergency vehicle", "mass transit vehicle", [and] "taxicab", and "seat belt assembly" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 291-11.6.

As used in this section, "commercial vehicle" shall be defined as any motor vehicle that is being used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit."

SECTION 2. Section 291-11.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The passengers of the following motor vehicles shall be exempt from the requirements of this section: emergency vehicles, [and] mass transit vehicles, and taxicabs. Further exemptions from this section may be established by rules adopted by the department of transportation pursuant to chapter 91.

As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Emergency vehicle" means an ambulance, a firefighting or rescue vehicle, or a police vehicle while on duty.

"Mass transit vehicle" means a bus, including a school bus (but excluding a charter or sightseeing service bus) with a gross vehicle weight rating that is over 10,000 pounds, whether publicly or privately owned, which provides service to the general public or provides special service on a regular or continuing basis.

"Taxicab" means and includes:

(1) Any motor vehicle used in the movement of passengers on the public highways under the following circumstances, namely, the passenger hires the vehicle on call or at a fixed stand, with or without baggage for transportation, and controls the vehicle to the passenger's destination; and

(2) Any motor vehicle having seating accommodations for eight or less passengers used in the movement of passengers on the public highways between a terminal, i.e., a fixed stand, in the city of Honolulu, and a terminal in a geographical district outside the limits of the city of Honolulu, and vice versa, without picking up passengers other than at the terminals or fixed stands; provided that passengers may be unloaded at any point between terminals; and provided further that this definition relating to motor vehicles operating between terminals shall pertain only to those motor vehicles whose operators or owners were duly licensed (under section 445-222 and any other applicable provision of law or ordinance) and doing business between such terminals on January 1, 1957."

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:	_____________________________