§286-2 Definitions. The following terms whenever used and referred to in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning is clearly apparent from the context:

"Aftermarket motorcycle frame" means a frame that is manufactured to replace the frame of a motorcycle that was certified by its manufacturer to be in compliance with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards as of the date of manufacture, or the frame of a homemade motorcycle that was manufactured not for profit by a person who built the motorcycle as a hobby.

"Alcohol" means the product of distillation of any fermented liquid, whether rectified or not, whatever may be the origin thereof, and includes ethyl alcohol as well as synthetic ethyl alcohol, but not denatured or other alcohol which is considered not potable under the customs laws of the United States.

"Alcohol concentration" means the concentration of alcohol in a person's blood or breath. When expressed as a percentage, it means: (1) the number of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood; or (2) the number of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.

"Bicycle" means:

(1) A device propelled solely by human power upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels sixteen inches in diameter or greater, and including any device generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels; or

(2) A low-speed electric bicycle, as defined under title 15 United States Code section 2085.

"Bus" means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten passengers and used for the transportation of persons.

"Chief of police" means the chief of police of each county.

"Commercial driver's license" (CDL) means a license issued in accordance with the requirements of this chapter to an individual which authorizes the individual to drive a class of commercial motor vehicle.

"Commercial driver's license information system" (CDLIS) means the information system established pursuant to the Federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (Title XII, Public Law 99-570) to serve as a clearinghouse and depository of information pertaining to the licensing and identification of commercial motor vehicle drivers and the disqualification of such drivers from driving commercial motor vehicles.

"Commercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles used in commerce to transport passengers or property:

(1) If the vehicle has a gross combination weight rating of 26,001 or more pounds inclusive of a towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds;

(2) If the vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 or more pounds;

(3) If the vehicle is designed to transport sixteen or more occupants, including the driver; or

(4) If the vehicle, regardless of size, is used in the transportation of hazardous materials, as defined in this section.

"Controlled substance" means any substance so classified under section 102(6) of the Controlled Substance Act (21 United States Code §802(6)), and includes all substances listed on schedules I through V of 21 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1308, as they may be revised from time to time.

"Conviction" means an unvacated adjudication of guilt, or a determination that a person has violated or failed to comply with the law in a court of original jurisdiction or by an administrative proceeding, an unvacated forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure the person's appearance in court, a plea of guilty or nolo contendere accepted by the court, the payment of a fine or court cost, or violation of a condition of release without bail, regardless of whether the penalty is rebated, suspended, or probated.

"Director" means the state director of transportation.

"Director of finance" means the director of finance of each county.

"Drive" means to drive, operate, or be in physical control of a motor vehicle in any place open to the general public for purposes of vehicular traffic.

"Driver" means every person who drives, operates, or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle in any place open to the general public for purposes of vehicular traffic or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed or pushed by a motor vehicle.

"Driver's license" means any license to operate a motor vehicle issued under the laws of this State.

"Driving instructor" means every person who, for compensation, instructs another person in the rudiments and mechanics of the operation of a motor vehicle.

"Employee" means any driver of a commercial motor vehicle, including full time, regularly employed drivers; casual, intermittent, or occasional drivers; and leased drivers and independent, owner-operator contractors (while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle) who are either directly employed by or under lease to an employer.

"Examiner of drivers" means the person or persons appointed under section 286-101.

"Executive officer" means the mayor of each county.

"Farm tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm implement for drawing plows, mowing machines, and other implements of husbandry.

"Felony" means any offense under state or federal law that is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

"Flood damage" means damage caused to any electrical, computerized, or mechanical component, or interior of a vehicle that has been submerged in water to the point that water has entered the passenger compartment or engine.

"Foreign jurisdiction" means any jurisdiction other than a state of the United States.

"Gross combination weight rating" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a combination (articulated) vehicle. In the absence of a value specified by the manufacturer, gross combination weight rating shall be determined by adding the gross vehicle weight rating of the power unit and the total weight of the towed unit and any load thereon.

"Gross vehicle weight rating" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single vehicle.

"Hazardous materials" means any material that has been designated as hazardous under Title 49 United States Code section 5103 and is required to be placarded under Subpart F of Part 172, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, or any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in Title 42 Code of Federal Regulations Part 73.

"Highway" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.

"Identification card" means a document made or issued under part [XVI] that, when completed with information concerning a particular individual, is intended solely for the purposes of civil identification.

"Intoxicating liquor" includes alcohol, brandy, whiskey, rum, gin, okolehao, sake, beer, ale, porter, and wine; and also includes, in addition to the foregoing, any spirituous, vinous, malt or fermented liquor, liquids, and compounds, whether medicated, proprietary, patented, or not, in whatever form and of whatever constituency and by whatever name called, containing one-half of one per cent or more of alcohol by volume, which are fit for use or may be used or readily converted for use for beverage purposes.

"Intrastate commerce" means trade, traffic, or transportation between two places in the State that originates and terminates within the State.

"Intrastate driver" means a driver, not less than nineteen years of age, engaged in intrastate commerce, except in the transportation of passengers in a school vehicle, as defined in section 286-181, or in the transportation of hazardous materials, as defined in section 286-2.

"Legal owner" includes a person who holds unencumbered title to a vehicle or is a secured party under a security interest in a vehicle.

"Moped" means a device upon which a person may ride which 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 which will propel the moped, 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.

"Motorcycle" 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 not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, but excludes a farm tractor and a moped; 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.

"Motor scooter" means every motorcycle with a motor which produces not 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 which is 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).

"Owner" or "registered owner" includes a legal owner of a vehicle where there is no security interest held by anyone on the vehicle, a buyer under a purchase money security interest, or a debtor under any security interest.

"Passenger car" means every motor vehicle, except motorcycles and motor scooters, designed for carrying ten passengers or less and used for the transportation of persons.

"Pole trailer" means every vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections.

"Rebuilt vehicle" means any vehicle which has been declared a total loss by an insurer and has been rebuilt or repaired to operate on public highways. For the purpose of this definition, a vehicle is a total loss only if there is material damage, including flood damage, to the vehicle's electronics, frame, unitized structure, or suspension system, and the projected cost of repairing the damage exceeds the market value of the vehicle at the time of the incident causing it to be declared a total loss.

"Reconstructed vehicle" means a vehicle that is registered to be operated on a public highway, and that is:

(1) Assembled from new or used parts by a person other than a recognized manufacturer of new vehicles;

(2) Modified to the extent that the identity of the vehicle's make, model, or type is obscured by material changes in its appearance; or

(3) Modified by the removal, addition, alteration, or substitution of other than original replacement essential parts, including the vehicle's body, power train, steering system, suspension system, exhaust system, intake system, or bumper system;

excluding ordinary body repair that does not change the exterior structure of the vehicle. The term does not include a special interest vehicle or a motorcycle.

"Rental or U-drive motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle which is rented or leased or offered for rent or lease for a period of six months or less.

"Semitrailer" means a trailer so constructed that a substantial part of its weight rests upon the truck-tractor by which it is drawn.

"Special interest vehicle" means a vehicle of any age that, because of its significance, is being collected, preserved, restored, or maintained by a collector. The term includes a street rod vehicle and a street rod replica vehicle, as those terms are defined in section 286-26.5; a vehicle manufactured before 1968; and a vehicle manufactured after 1967 to resemble a vehicle manufactured before 1968.

"State", except where reference is clearly to another state, territory, or possession of the United States, means the State of Hawaii.

"Third party examiner" means a driver's license examiner who is qualified and has been certified by the State to examine applicants for category (4) licenses under section 286-102(b) and commercial driver licenses.

"Title state or county" means any state or any county in any state which issues certificates of title and registration and notes, liens, and other encumbrances thereon.

"Tractor-semitrailer combination" means a truck-tractor in use together with a semitrailer.

"Trailer" means a vehicle designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle.

"Truck" means a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.

"Truck-tractor" means a truck designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load to other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn.

"Truck-trailer combination" means a truck in use together with a trailer.

"United States" means the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

"Vehicle" means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, but excludes devices moved by human power or devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks and mopeds.

"Vehicle identification number" means the unique series of letters and numerals assigned to a vehicle either by the vehicle manufacturer or incomplete vehicle manufacturer as required by federal law, or by the county director of finance to identify a reconstructed vehicle, special interest vehicle, or motorcycle. [L 1967, c 214, pt of §2; HRS §286-2; am L 1968, c 48, §2(a); am L 1970, c 164, §2; am L 1973, c 152, §1(a); am L 1974, c 98, §1; am L 1975, c 187, §3; am L 1977, c 77, §1; am L 1978, c 175, §§7, 8; am L 1984, c 276, §3; am L 1985, c 23, §1; am L 1989, c 320, §3; am L 1990, c 43, §2 and c 342, §17; am L 1993, c 270, §1; am L 1997, c 246, §3; am L 1999, c 262, §2(1); am L 2002, c 255, §2; am L 2004, c 126, §1; am L 2006, c 22, §1 and c 130, §2; am L 2007, c 288, §2; am L 2011, c 64, §1; am L 2012, c 310, §3; am L 2013, c 114, §18; am L 2014, c 23, §1; am L 2017, c 216, §2; am L 2019, c 199, §2 and c 208, §4]

Revision Note

Definition of "director of finance" inserted, definition of "treasurer" deleted, and words "county chairman" deleted from definition of "executive officer" to conform to county charters.

Case Notes

Definition of "owner" not applicable to term as used in private insurance policies. 230 F. Supp. 451.