Question: The left lane on Date Street at Laau Street just past Palolo Stream in the Ewa direction was recently changed from allowing through traffic or a left turn onto Laau Street to left turn only, with little advance traffic markings. This causes cars to abruptly move to the right lane and then back into the left lane immediately past Laau Street to avoid parked cars just in front. I observed four consecutive cars drive through the left-turn-only lane as I was coming from the opposite direction. This is an accident waiting to happen since cars in the right lane moving past Laau Street would need to move into the left lane to avoid parked cars and might not expect the cars coming through the left-turn-only lane.
Answer: You were the first of about a dozen readers since March 19 to express alarm about a new traffic flow at this intersection, which leads to ‘Iolani School on the left turn. They called the situation hazardous, noted a lack of advance signage (directional arrows are painted on the road), said the left-only lane was overkill and wanted to know whether the change was permanent. The answer to that last question is no. The city says it was a mistake, which it plans to fix today.
Here’s the full response from Jon Nouchi, deputy director of the city’s Department of Transportation Services:
“The striping implemented on Date Street approaching Laau Street was a city error. The Department of Transportation Services has already scheduled work to restripe and implement the correct two lanes headed Ewa-bound for Friday (today) between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., weather permitting. Traffic controls will be in place during this time, and we ask motorists to drive with caution around this intersection while crews are working. We apologize for any inconvenience this striping pattern has caused in the interim.”
The intersection will return to its former traffic flow, with two lanes Ewa-bound. Left turns will be allowed, but not required, from the left lane.
Q: Please help to explain the requirements from the city Department of Customer Services that indicate, “You can renew (a driver’s license) anytime within six months of its expiration date. But you can only make an appointment up to 45 days in advance.” My driver’s license expires Sept. 17, therefore I only can make an appointment to renew from Aug. 5 to Sept. 17? Is that correct? Please help.
A: Happy to help, and no, your interpretation is not correct. We’ve heard similar questions from other readers confused by the verbiage, so we’ll answer in print. We don’t want folks needlessly delaying their appointments.
You can renew a license or state ID up to six months ahead of its expiration date. That means you could have made a renewal appointment for any available date after March 17, which was six months before your license expires. You can make an appointment at license.honolulu.gov; click on the green appointments bar.
The 45 days refers only to the functioning of the city’s online reservation system; it doesn’t reserve appointment dates further than 45 days out, according to the website. So, for example, you wouldn’t have been able to get an April appointment if you had signed on in January.
So, to answer another common question, no, you can’t reserve an appointment six months in advance.
Mahalo
Just wanted to thank whoever returned the 15-pound bag of rice to the Times Beretania. My husband forgot to put the rice into the trunk while he was loading the car and didn’t expect to get it back when he returned to the store. — C.K.
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