Question: Don’t we already have a law against riding in the back of pickups? Why don’t police just pull them over?
Answer: State law does ban riding in the back of pickup trucks, but exceptions, especially for passengers over age 12, make it unlikely police could verify a violation simply by seeing a pickup truck drive by with someone sitting in the open bed.
Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-14 says pickup drivers can’t have passengers in the bed or load-carrying area, unless there is no seating available in the vehicle’s cab, in which case people over age 12 can ride in the back if the “side racks of the vehicle are securely attached and the tailboard or tailgate is securely closed” and if the passengers stay seated on the floor of the truck bed and don’t try to control unlashed cargo.
Moreover, the ban doesn’t apply “to persons or corporations operating a business or businesses that serve the public, who or which are subject to the jurisdiction, supervision, and regulations prescribed by state agencies or departments nor to their agents or employees when engaged in the business of such persons or corporations.” Farm workers, for example, commonly ride in the back of pickup trucks to get from field to field.
Hawaii’s law is more strict about children, saying that anyone age 12 or younger cannot ride in the bed or load-carrying area of a pickup truck unless the child is suffering a life-threatening emergency or the pickup is participating in a parade, caravan or exhibition that is officially authorized or permitted by law.
Oahu law also addresses this issue, stating in section 15-24.5 of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu that drivers may allow passengers to ride in the back of a truck, “provided that persons riding in the bed or load-carrying area of a pickup truck shall be subject to HRS 291-14,” which is the state law on the subject.
Another reader asked about a supposed requirement that all people riding in the back of newer model pickup trucks wear seat belts. That was proposed, but not approved. During the 2020 Legislature, House Bill 1670 would have required every pickup truck built after Dec. 31, 2021, to have a seat belt assembly in the truck bed, in order to operate legally in Hawaii, and for any person riding in the bed of the truck to wear a seat belt. The bill did not pass.
Across the country, most drivers and passengers inside vehicles do buckle up, complying with strong state laws, but it’s a different story in pickup beds, according to the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s overview on seat belts.
“Lap and shoulder belts prevent ejection from the vehicle and keep people from colliding with the vehicle interior during a crash. They are also designed to manage forces on the body,” the IIHS says on its website.
“Most states allow adults to ride unrestrained in pickup beds, which are designed to carry cargo and offer no protection in a crash. People can be easily ejected from cargo areas at relatively low speeds as a result of a sharp turn to avoid an obstacle or crash,” it says. Or when the pickup is hit by another vehicle.
Today’s reader questions were prompted by a crash on the H-1 freeway in Aiea on Tuesday that killed a 27-year-old woman, who was ejected from the bed of a pickup truck that was rear-ended by another vehicle, police said. The five other people in the pickup survived the crash; they were seated inside the cab, wearing seat belts, police said.
Assuming that the pickup’s cab was full, it would have been legal for the adult woman to be riding in the back. Several readers suggested amending Hawaii’s law to ban riding in the back of pickups on freeways and other high-speed roads, without exception.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
