Tow trucks not supposed to drive on H-1 shoulder

Question: I was heading eastbound on the freeway from Kapolei to Pearlridge at about 3:45 p.m. recently when a tow truck came flying past me in the right shoulder lane. He was going at least 65 mph and close enough to cause my vehicle to shake. He cut back into traffic to take the Wai­malu exit, then suddenly jerked into the left lane to head toward Pearl City instead. He was not towing a vehicle. This idiot driver just used the shoulder to get ahead of traffic, which was not bad. It’s obvious that if there had been an accident and traffic was wall to wall, a tow truck would have to use the shoulder lane to get to the scene. But there was no accident in this area. What situation would require a tow truck to be in such a hurry that he/she would feel they had to utilize the shoulder lane?

 Answer: A tow truck should not be driven in the manner you described, said Maj. Kurt Ken­dro, commander of the Hono­lulu Police Department’s Traffic Division. “Drivers should call 911 right away when they see a vehicle operated in such a hazardous manner,” he said, adding that HPD has issued citations to tow truck drivers for this.

Section 291C-26 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes says that only a driver of an “authorized emergency vehicle” is allowed to bypass usual traffic restrictions, such as parking where parking is not allowed; going through a red light or stop sign (after slowing down as necessary); exceeding the maximum speed limits (so long as life or property is not endangered); turning or moving in the wrong direction; and driving on the median of roadways.

Kendro said a tow truck is not considered an “authorized emergency vehicle.”

Under Section 291C-1 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, those vehicles “include fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, ocean safety vehicles, public safety law enforcement vehicles, and conservation and resources enforcement vehicles authorized and approved … that are publicly owned and other publicly or privately owned vehicles designated as such by a county council.”

Disability ID Cards

The state Disability and Communication Access Board wants to correct a common misconception that the Americans with Disabilities Act is tied to the issuance of disabled-parking placards.

Such parking placards are not issued under the authority of the ADA. They’re issued under another federal law: the Uniform System for Parking for Persons with Disabilities, said Francine Wai, DCAB’s executive director. She was responding to Friday’s “Kokua Line,” in which we explained who is allowed to use the elevator at Aloha Stadium.

We were told that the stadium would allow people who showed a doctor’s note certifying a person’s disability or a “blue ADA ID card” issued to those who qualified for a disabled-parking placard to use the elevator.

That blue ID card does nothing more than to confirm the identity of a person to whom a disability parking placard is issued, Wai said.

“If the stadium wants to use it as one of the means to show that a person has a mobility disability, that’s their prerogative,” she said. “That’s not why it was issued.”

While the ID card is a “valid assurance that the person has a mobility disability” and “the ADA does say that it’s a credible type of ID” that a person has a mobility disability, “it’s not an ADA ID card,” Wai said. “We do not issue it for any purpose other than the right to park.”

Mahalo

To the good Samaritan who found my Hawaii driver’s license and turned it in to airport security. I wasn’t aware that it was lost until my granddaughters saw my name flashed on the airport screen. I am forever grateful. — Senior Citizen H.N.

———
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.