Traffic signs, signals do apply to bicyclists riding in street

Question: I routinely see bicyclists fly through stop signs, red lights and no-turn signs. It’s as if traffic signals don’t apply to them. Do they? This is when they are riding in the street, not on the sidewalk.

Answer: Yes, traffic signs and signals apply to bicyclists riding in the street, including in bike lanes. Besides risking their lives by running red lights or stop signs on Honolulu’s busy streets, the bicyclists you mention are breaking state and county laws.

Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 291c-142 (808ne.ws/291C142) states that traffic laws apply to people riding bicycles as well as to people driving cars and other vehicles.

County law on Oahu is even more specific. The Revised Ordinances of Honolulu state in Section 15-18.3 (808ne.ws/ROH15183) that “every person operating a bicycle shall obey the instructions of official traffic control signals, signs, and other control devices applicable to vehicles, unless otherwise directed by a police officer or any other persons authorized to direct, control or regulate traffic.”

When traffic signs or signals indicate that no right turn, left turn or U-turn is permitted, bicyclists must abide, unless they dismount their bikes, at which point they would be considered pedestrians and must behave accordingly, under the law.

Q: There are people jogging again in the King Street bike lane. I know you’ve covered it before, but maybe mention it one more time.

A: Pedestrians are not allowed in Oahu bike lanes unless there is no adjacent paved sidewalk. That’s not the case on King Street — there are paved sidewalks — so people shouldn’t be walking or jogging in the protected bike lane.

Q: We have a high-performance vehicle and are not able to locate 93 octane premium gas where we live (Waipio Gentry). Would you know where I can get 93 octane premium gas on Oahu?

A: No, it’s not for sale on Oahu, according to the information we could gather by deadline.

Kokua Line emailed several petroleum companies and heard back from one, Aloha Petroleum. Larry Adams, the company’s director of sales and marketing, said that 93 octane is not sold at Oahu gas stations, and provided details about some of what is available:

“Aloha offers Top Tier gasoline at both our Aloha and Shell brand stations. Shell V-Power NiTRO+ premium gas offers the best engine protection in the industry. As your reader states, 93 octane is not available on Oahu. There is a street-legal octane booster on the market that will boost octane by one octane number. STP Octane Booster is one such product. Note that some engine manufacturers advise against the use of such octane boosters and such products are banned with Top Tier specifications.”

Q: Did they get rid of the rats on Lehua island?

A: It appears so. No rats have been spotted on the seabird sanctuary west of Kauai since poison pellets were air-dropped there in August, according to the state Department of Land of Natural Resources. However, the isle won’t be declared rat-free until after a year of monitoring, it said. There were three rodenticide applications by air, the last of which occurred in September.

Auwe

Auwe to terrible people who call innocent people trying to rip them off. I bought my mom a cellphone so she could keep her phone within easy reach. She is older, and I worry about her since we don’t live together. How wrong that con artists are exploiting this lifeline. I don’t even know how they got her number! — Concerned daughter

Mahalo

A wonderful woman paid for a wooden ring at the bookstore in Kailua. She overheard my grandson expressing a desire for that ring, but we didn’t have any cash. Thank you, Carol, for your aloha and thoughtfulness! — Mahalo, Ethan and Sandi

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.