Report Title:

Motor Vehicles; Articulated Buses

 

Description:

Increases the length of articulated buses permissible for public transit purposes.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1934

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to motor vehicles.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 291-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

     "(c)  Length:

     (1)  No single motor vehicle or other power vehicle having a total overall length greater than forty-five feet, including load, shall be operated or moved upon any public road, street, or highway within the State, except as provided in this subsection;

     (2)  No truck-tractor and semitrailer having a total overall length greater than sixty-five feet, including load, shall be operated or moved upon any public road, street, or highway, other than interstate highways and certain qualifying federal aid highways as designated by the director of transportation, within the State, except as provided in this subsection; provided that:

         (A)  For truck-tractors and semitrailers used for agricultural purposes[,] or public utilities maintenance and service vehicles[, or articulated buses for public transit purposes], the total combined length of the truck-tractor and semitrailer[,] or public utility maintenance and service vehicle[, or articulated bus] shall not exceed sixty-five feet in length; [and]

         (B)  The length of the semitrailer shall not exceed forty-eight feet in length; and

          (C)  The length of an articulated bus for public transit purposes shall not exceed eighty-one feet in length, and shall not consist of more than three units.

     (3)  No combination of motor vehicles or other power vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than two units and no such combination of vehicles having a total overall length greater than sixty-five feet, including load, shall be operated or moved upon any public road, street, or highway other than interstate highways and certain qualifying federal aid highways as designated by the director of transportation, within the State, except as provided in this subsection.  A truck-tractor and semitrailer shall be regarded as a single unit when determining the number of units in a combination;

     (4)  No motor vehicle, self-propelled construction or farm equipment, trailer, or semitrailer shall be operated upon any public road, street, or highway within the State if it is carrying or otherwise has projecting to the front or rear, a load, boom, mast, or other projecting structure or attachment unless:

         (A)  With respect to self-propelled construction or farm equipment:

              (i)  The length of the equipment measured on a horizontal axis, including the projection, is not greater than forty-five feet;

             (ii)  The projection is either held securely in place or is controlled by the driver or an operator;

            (iii)  The projection does not obstruct the driver's vision;

             (iv)  The projection does not impair the driver's ability to control the equipment;

              (v)  The projection beyond the front tires is at least seven feet above the roadway surface; and

             (vi)  The projection does not extend more than four feet past the extremity of the piece of equipment, or if it extends more than four feet, an escort vehicle is provided by the owner or operator either to the front or to the rear of the projection to call attention to the projection; or

         (B)  With respect to a motor vehicle, or a motor vehicle with attached trailer or semitrailer:

              (i)  The overall length of a motor vehicle including the projection, is not greater than forty-five feet or the overall length of the motor vehicle with attached trailer or semitrailer, including the projection, is not greater than sixty feet except that this limitation on a motor vehicle with attached trailer or semitrailer, including the projection, shall not be applicable on interstate highways and certain qualifying federal aid highways, as designated by the director of transportation;

             (ii)  The projection is either held securely in place or is controlled by the driver or an operator;

            (iii)  The projection does not obstruct the driver's vision;

             (iv)  The projection does not impair the driver's ability to control the equipment;

              (v)  The projection beyond the front tires is at least seven feet above the roadway surface; and

             (vi)  The projection does not extend more than four feet past the extremity of the trailer or semitrailer, or, if it extends more than four feet, an escort vehicle is provided by the owner or operator either to the front or to the rear of the projection to call attention to the projection;

     (5)  The limitations in this subsection upon length shall not apply to vehicles transporting pipe, poles, timbers, reinforcing steel, structural steel, or other objects of a structural nature which cannot be readily dismembered; provided that when transported by night every such vehicle shall be equipped with a sufficient number of clearance lamps upon the extreme ends of any projecting load to clearly mark the dimensions of the load."

     SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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