Hawaii Revised Statutes
291C. Statewide Traffic Code
291C-1 Definitions.

§291C-1 Definitions. As used in this chapter:
"Alley" means a street or highway intended to provide access to the rear or side of lots or buildings and not intended for the purpose of through vehicular traffic.
"Arterial street" means any United States or state numbered route, controlled-access highway, or other major radial or circumferential street or highway designated by counties within their respective jurisdictions as part of a major arterial system of streets or highways.
"Authorized emergency vehicle" includes fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, ocean safety vehicles, public safety law enforcement vehicles, conservation and resources enforcement vehicles, and department of transportation division of harbors law enforcement vehicles authorized and approved pursuant to section 291-31.5 that are publicly owned and other publicly or privately owned vehicles designated as such by a county council.
"Bicycle" means:
(1) A vehicle propelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, and including any vehicle generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels except a toy bicycle; or
(2) A low-speed electric bicycle, as defined under title 15 United States Code section 2085.
"Bicycle lane" means that portion of any highway which has been set aside for the preferential or exclusive use of bicycles.
"Bicycle path" means any facility set aside for the preferential or exclusive use of bicycles and physically separated from a highway.
"Bicycle route" means any highway that is designated to be shared by bicycles and pedestrians or motor vehicles, or both.
"Bikeway" means a bicycle lane, bicycle path, or bicycle route, or any traffic control device, shelter, parking facility, or other support facility to serve bicycles and persons using bicycles.
"Bodily injury" means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
"Bus" means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten passengers and used for the transportation of persons; and every motor vehicle, other than a school bus or a taxicab, designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation.
"Business district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway when within any six hundred feet along such highway there are buildings in use for business or industrial purposes, including but not limited to hotels, banks, or office buildings, and public buildings which occupy at least three hundred feet of frontage on one side or three hundred feet collectively on both sides of the highway.
"Controlled-access highway" means every highway, street, or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the same except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over such highway, street, or roadway.
"Crosswalk" means:
(1) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway; or
(2) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.
"Dangerous wheels" means any wheel, wheel cover, hubcap, lug nut cover or cap, prong, or any ornamentation affixed to any of the aforementioned items that extends at least four inches beyond the portion of the wheel rim that extends furthest away from the vehicle and that may cause injury or property damage by minimal contact with a person or object.
"Driver" means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
"Electric foot scooter" means a device:
(1) Weighing less than seventy-five pounds;
(2) With two or three wheels;
(3) With handlebars;
(4) With either:
(A) A floorboard that can be stood upon while riding; or
(B) A seat or saddle for the use of the rider and stationary footrests;
(5) That is powered by an electric motor or human power; and
(6) Whose maximum speed, with or without human propulsion on a paved level surface, does not exceed fifteen miles per hour.
"Electric foot scooter" does not include foot-powered scooters that do not have a motor.
"Electric personal assistive mobility device" means a self-balancing, two-wheeled, non-tandem-wheeled device, designed to transport only one person, using an electric propulsion system that limits the maximum speed of the device to twelve and a half miles per hour or less.
"Highway" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained and those private streets, as defined in section 46-16, over which the application of this chapter has been extended by ordinance, when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
"House trailer" means:
(1) A trailer or semitrailer which is designed, constructed, and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode, or sleeping place (either permanently or temporarily) and is equipped for use as a conveyance on streets and highways; or
(2) A trailer or a semitrailer whose chassis and exterior shell is designed and constructed for use as a house trailer, as defined in paragraph (1), but which is used instead permanently or temporarily for the advertising, sales, display, or promotion of merchandise or services, or for any other commercial purpose except the transportation of property for hire or the transportation of property for distribution by a private carrier.
"Intersection" means the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict.
Where a highway includes two roadways thirty feet or more apart, then every crossing of each roadway of such divided highway by an intersecting highway shall be regarded as a separate intersection. In the event such intersecting highway also includes two roadways thirty feet or more apart, then every crossing of two roadways of such highways shall be regarded as a separate intersection. The junction of an alley with a street or highway shall not constitute an intersection.
"Laned roadway" means roadway which is divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for vehicular traffic.
"Moped" means a device upon which a person may ride that has two or three wheels in contact with the ground, a motor having a maximum power output capability measured at the motor output shaft, in accordance with the Society of Automotive Engineers standards, of two horsepower (one thousand four hundred ninety-two watts) or less and, if it is a combustion engine, a maximum piston or rotor displacement of 3.05 cubic inches (fifty cubic centimeters) and that will propel the device unassisted, on a level surface at a maximum speed no greater than thirty miles per hour; and a direct or automatic power drive system, which requires no clutch or gear shift operation by the moped driver after the drive system is engaged with the power unit. "Moped" does not include an electric foot scooter.
"Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground but excludes a farm tractor and a moped.
"Motor scooter" means:
(1) Every motor vehicle that has a handlebar and seating that requires the operator to straddle or sit astride on it and is designed to travel on no more than three wheels in contact with the ground, but excludes a farm tractor; or
(2) Every motor vehicle that has a steering wheel and seating that does not require the operator to straddle or sit astride on it, and is designed to travel on three wheels in contact with the ground, called an autocycle, which is certified by the manufacturer to comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards as of the date of manufacture,
with a motor that produces no more than five horsepower, but excludes a moped.
"Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power but not operated upon rails but excludes a moped.
"Neighborhood electric vehicle" means a self-propelled electrically powered motor vehicle to which all of the following apply:
(1) The vehicle is emission free;
(2) The vehicle is designed to be and is operated at speeds of twenty-five miles per hour or less;
(3) The vehicle has four wheels in contact with the ground;
(4) The vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating of less than three thousand pounds; and
(5) The vehicle conforms to the minimum safety equipment requirements as adopted in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 500, Low Speed Vehicles (49 C.F.R. 571.500).
"Official traffic-control devices" mean all signs, signals, markings, and devices not inconsistent with this chapter placed or erected by authority or with the consent of a public body or official having jurisdiction, for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic.
"Owner" means a person, other than a lien holder, having the property in or title to a vehicle. The term includes a person entitled to the use and possession of a vehicle subject to a security interest in another person, but excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security.
"Park" or "parking" means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers.
"Pedestrian" means any person afoot, in an invalid chair, or in a vehicle propelled by a person afoot.
"Police officer" means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations.
"Private road or driveway" means every way or place in private ownership and used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner, but not by other persons.
"Railroad" means a carrier of persons or property upon cars operated upon stationary rails.
"Railroad sign or signal" means any sign, signal, or device erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train.
"Railroad train" means a steam engine, electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled thereto, operated upon rails.
"Residence district" means the territory contiguous to and including a highway not comprising a business district when the property on the highway for a distance of three hundred feet or more is in the main improved with residences or residences and buildings in use for business.
"Right-of-way" means the right of one vehicle or pedestrian to proceed in a lawful manner in preference to another vehicle or pedestrian approaching under such circumstances of direction, speed, and proximity as to give rise to danger of collision unless one grants precedence to the other.
"Roadway" means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. In the event a highway includes two or more separate roadways the term "roadway" as used herein refers to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively.
"Safety zone" means the area or space officially set apart within a roadway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone.
"School bus" means every motor vehicle as defined in section 286-181 and any regulations promulgated pursuant thereto by the department of education.
"Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
"Sidewalk" means that portion of a street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for use of pedestrians.
"Stand" or "standing" means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers.
"Stop" when required means complete cessation from movement.
"Stop" or "stopping" when prohibited means any halting even momentarily of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control sign or signal.
"Street" means the entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
"Substantial bodily injury" means bodily injury that causes:
(1) A major avulsion, laceration, or penetration of the skin;
(2) A chemical, electrical, friction, or scalding burn of second degree severity;
(3) A bone fracture;
(4) A serious concussion; or
(5) A tearing, rupture, or corrosive damage to the esophagus, viscera, or other internal organs.
"Through highway" means every highway or portion thereof on which vehicular traffic is given preferential right-of-way, and at the entrances to which vehicular traffic from intersecting highways is required by law to yield the right-of-way to vehicles on such through highway in obedience to a stop sign, yield sign, or other official traffic-control device, when such signs or devices are erected as provided by law.
"Toy bicycle" means every device propelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, including any device generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels, which has a seat height of not more than twenty-five inches from the ground when the seat is adjusted to its highest position; or a scooter or similar device regardless of seat height.
"Traffic" means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel.
"Traffic-control signal" means any device, whether manually, electrically, or mechanically operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed.
"Urban district" means the territory contiguous to and including any street which is built up with structures devoted to business, industry, or dwelling houses situated at intervals of less than one hundred feet for a distance of a quarter of a mile or more.
"Vehicle" means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a roadway or highway, including mopeds and bicycles, but excluding toy bicycles, devices other than bicycles moved by human power, and devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. [L 1971, c 150, pt of §1; am L 1974, c 133, §1; am L 1975, c 187, §4; am L 1976, c 148, §2; am L 1978, c 39, §1 and c 175, § §9, 10, 11; am L 1984, c 273, §3; am L 1990, c 43, §3; am L 1992, c 243, §3; am L 1995, c 173, §3; am L 1999, c 262, §3(2); am L 2003, c 112, §1 and c 180, §3; am L 2007, c 109, §2; am L 2014, c 23, §2; am L 2016, c 99, §2 and c 100, §3; am L 2019, c 208, §5; am L 2020, c 70, §42; am L 2021, c 174, §6 and c 214, §6]
Case Notes
Cited: 134 H. 465 (App.), 342 P.3d 884 (2015).
Discussed: 87 H. 249, 953 P.2d 1347 (1998).

Structure Hawaii Revised Statutes