Dashboard OK when mirror can’t hold handicap placard

Question: I just received a citation for placing my handicap parking placard on my dashboard. But a recent article said it was proper to place the placard on the dashboard. Would you please email me the statute on which that article was based?

Answer: The Associated Press story published in the Star-Advertiser on July 6 was headlined, “Disabled drivers can now display parking placards on dashboard.”

If you just read that and the first paragraph of the story, you may have thought displaying placards on the dashboard is now an acceptable option.

However, the last paragraph said a placard could be placed on the dashboard only if it couldn’t be hung securely from the rearview mirror.

Act 183 of the 2011 state Legislature amended Section 291-54 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes to say, “The placard shall be displayed in such a manner that it may be viewed from the front and rear of the vehicle by hanging it from the front windshield rearview mirror of a vehicle when the placard is in use. If the design of the rearview mirror precludes hanging the placard in a secure manner, the placard shall be displayed on the dashboard.”

The amendment “doesn’t change (the law) much,” said Francine Wai, executive director of the state Disability and Communications Access Board.

It did take out the previous provision that said the placard could be displayed on the dashboard “(w)hen there is no rearview mirror,” but the amendment basically covers that situation.

Legislators were told that some people with vehicles that precluded hanging the placards securely from rearview mirrors had been cited for illegally displaying them on dashboards. The new law “addresses this issue.”

Q: A recent Star-Advertiser article said the governor signed a bill into law that modifies the procedures for the display of disabled-parking placards. Can you explain that the display of these placards on the dashboard is permissible ONLY in the absence of a rearview mirror or when the connecting shaft of the mirror is of a size or shape where the placard cannot be securely displayed (i.e., for vehicles with devices such as OnStar and the connecting shaft is larger)? Also, can you repeat your previous column regarding not displaying these placards while driving? That prohibition is very clear at the bottom of the placards.

A: Thanks for explaining why the design of some rearview mirrors precludes the hanging of the parking placards (see question above).

As for not hanging the placards while driving, that prohibition is covered under Section 15-19.30 of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu. There should not be anything obstructing the view of the driver, either by hanging something from the rearview mirror or by placing stickers or decals on the windshield or elsewhere.

The law previously was explained to us — archives.starbulletin.com/2006/03/29/news/kokualine.html — as the “fuzzy dice rule.”

Meanwhile, Section 291-54 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes says the placard should be displayed when a vehicle is “utilizing a parking space reserved for persons with disabilities” — meaning, when parked.

Q: I usually do my morning walk at Kapolei Community Park and its adjacent streets and noticed that one of the road signs on Kaiau Street is missing a bolt. I’m sure the sign weighs 5 pounds or more and somebody could get hurt. To whom can we address the problem?

A: The easiest way to report problems under the city’s jurisdiction is online at www1.honolulu.gov/csd/publiccom/fixit.htm.

Or call 768-4381 or email complaints@honolulu.gov.