Question: We live in Makaha, and there is no safety-check station out here anymore that will do safety checks on motorcycles or boat trailers. There used to be several stations out here where we could take our motorcycle. My husband had to make a 41-mile round trip from our home in Makaha to Waipahu to get a safety check for his motorcycle. What changes did the city make to the safety-check law that no station out in the Leeward area — Waianae, Maili and Nanakuli — will do safety checks on motorcycles or boat trailers anymore? The stations don’t tell us why, and when we call the city, they don’t tell us why. This is a problem for a lot of people on the Leeward Coast. Someone from the city did call us to say there is a station in Campbell Industrial Park that will check our motorcycle.
Answer: It turns out there is one certified motor vehicle inspection station along the Leeward Coast that does inspect motorcycles: Dansen’s Auto Repair and Towing on Farrington Highway in Waianae, according to the city Department of Customer Services.
You can call the department’s Motor Vehicle Control Section’s Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspection Unit at 733-2542 to find out where inspections of motor vehicles, boat trailers and motorcycles are done on Oahu, said Sheri Kajiwara, director of the Department of Customer Services.
The department certifies private businesses to inspect motor vehicles, boat trailers and motorcycles.
They may elect to be certified to inspect automobiles/boat trailers; automobiles/boat trailers and motorcycles; or motorcycles only.
Inspecting motorcycles is voluntary, and it’s up to the station to get properly certified.
Although fees for safety inspections increased last year, no other changes to the law were made.
We contacted Dansen Carvalho, owner of Dansen’s Auto Repair and Towing, to ask why he’s the only station doing motorcycle safety checks along the Leeward Coast.
“There’s also very few that would do motorcycles on the island anyway,” he pointed out.
One reason, he said, is because the person inspecting a motorcycle is required to have a motorcycle driver’s license.
That person is required to register with the Division of Motor Vehicles’ office in Kapahulu, then take and pass the motorcycle safety-check test, Carvalho said.
“Most people don’t have a motorcycle license to begin with,” he said. “So, if you don’t have a motorcycle license, you can’t even apply with the state to get the motorcycle inspection license.”
Carvalho said he’s been doing safety inspections since 1998, adding motorcycle inspections in 2004.
Inspection Stations
The number of stations that do motorcycle inspections did not drop significantly since last year.
In 2013 there were 312 certified stations on Oahu, compared with 299 at last count this year.
On Jan. 31, 2013, there were 275 stations inspecting automobiles/boat trailers, 27 inspecting automobiles/motorcycles and 10 inspecting motorcycles.
As of this past Jan. 31, the figures were 265, 24 and 10.
The number of stations listed as certified to inspect motorcycles as of Feb. 5 was 21.
“Please keep in mind that as these are all private businesses; the list changes as businesses open, close or change services,”Kajiwara said in explaining why the figures might not jibe.
Mahalo
To the lifeguards in Kailua who came to my rescue recently. I hadn’t pictured myself needing a ride behind a lifeguard Jet Ski, but there I was at the Mokulua Islands with four broken ribs and a punctured lung. … I can’t tell you how stoked I am that the lifeguards had a Jet Ski, arriving with surprising speed and getting me out with no problem.
We are surrounded by water and need lifeguards when something goes wrong. I don’t think lifeguards ask for a lot, and hope that we make sure they have what they need to keep us safe. Big aloha.
— Haakon Smith
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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.
