Street addresses required on Hawaii driver’s licenses

Question: Can I put my P.O. box on my driver’s license rather than my street address? I don’t want my street address listed for personal security reasons.

Answer: No. “The federal government requires an actual physical address on government-issued IDs. The only exception for the use of a P.O. box is when a person lives in an area not serviced by the U.S. Postal service and is offered a box as the only option to receiving their mail. The notification received from USPS is required in those circumstances,” said Sheri Kajiwara, director of the city’s Department of Customer Services.

The requirement is a matter of national security, she said. The federal government established security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards with passage of the REAL ID Act in 2005, which incorporated anti-terrorism recommendations from the 9/11 Commission, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The stricter requirements have been implemented gradually, over several years.

“Many of these new federal REAL ID rules resulted from a need to keep government IDs out of the hands of improper non-U.S. citizens. Those individuals will use false names, photos, or try to hide their location,” Kajiwara said. “This is the similar reason as to why we are required to mail IDs out rather than hand them over the counter, as some of us recall from earlier days. It is a requirement to ensure that the address provided is valid.”

Kajiwara also offered some general tips for renewing your license: “We like to remind people that a license can be renewed up to six months before expiration, and they will still retain their birth date as the expiration date. Another helpful hint is to bring in a doctor’s note of your last eye exam (within past 12 months) and forgo the vision test on-site.”

Q: I am calling regarding an article in Kokua Line on Nov. 3 about roadside memorials (808ne.ws/­2fwY8L7). The one in Mililani is still there. What are they waiting for? So they can celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s and they think that people are just going to forget about it? I think that’s pretty much how government works. Can you please follow up on it?

A: City spokesman Andrew Pereira said the shrine on a city median on Meheula Parkway between Hokuahiahi and Holanialii streets would be removed by the city, and should be gone by today “barring unforeseen circumstances.”

A question over jurisdiction that had delayed the removal has been resolved, Pereira said, confirming that the city owns the median and is responsible for keeping it clear. The Mililani Town Association mows the median by agreement with the city but is not responsible for overall upkeep, said David O’Neal, the association’s general manager.

Pereira acknowledged that the city has received complaints about the cemeterylike shrine on public property. It has been up since July 2015, far beyond the 30 days allowed under a city policy that lets loved ones temporarily leave flowers and other mementos at fatal crash scenes. Family and friends are supposed to remove the tributes within a month; the city or state steps in (depending on landownership) if they fail to do so.

“The Department of Facility Maintenance will move forward with the work order previously submitted by the Department of Transportation Services, and it will be removed in the next few days,” Pereira said Nov. 22.

Auwe

Twice we were behind drivers on the freeway who were drifting to the side of their lane, then correcting their direction. This was happening continually. When we passed them, their eyes were on an object below, and their eyes were not looking at traffic in the lane. What should we do? Blast them with our horn or get killed? — A reader

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.