Honolulu City Council members say they will wait to see whether state lawmakers will craft legislation that would regulate mopeds before deciding whether to move forward with their own bill requiring moped owners to get the same annual safety checks as motorists.

Bill 83 (2015) was deferred by the Council Transportation Committee last week. The measure was introduced by Council members Carol Fukunaga and Ann Kobayashi, largely in response to concerns raised by multiple Oahu neighborhood boards about excessively loud moped noises.

Transportation Chairman Joey Manahan said the issue of moped noise is among the common complaints he receives.

But Maj. Darren Izumo, head of the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division, said he’s not sure requiring safety checks of mopeds will solve the problem of loud moped mufflers. Unlike car mufflers, they are easily attached and detached, so a moped owner going to the mechanic’s shop for a safety check inspection could easily avoid detection, he said.

“If the intent is … putting a stop to loud mopeds, it’s debatable whether it (will have) any efficacy because these things just bolt on and off,” Izumo said. “It’s not like a vehicle where it has to be welded for safety and things like that.”

Asking officers to stop mopeds that might sound loud is also a questionable proposition, especially since no law offers a limit on how many decibels a moped can emit. “It’s a very subjective thing,” he said. “Unlike window tint, we have no sound meter approved for use that we can use to measure what is loud.”

Izumo stressed that HPD has taken no position on the bill and would enforce any law passed.

Kobayashi said capturing all noisy mopeds doesn’t have to be the goal. “Even if we get a few of these people who try to break the law that we may pass, at least that’s something,” she said. “Over the years, maybe it will become a deterrent. We can’t sit here and do nothing when everybody’s neighborhood board, I think, is passing resolutions asking us to do something. We have to try.”

A state law that took effect in 1998 already calls for the counties to require safety check inspections for mopeds. But it has been implemented only on Hawaii island and Maui.

A number of bills before the Legislature deal with moped noise — including ones that would require moped registration and safety inspection. Manahan said the committee will wait to see whether state lawmakers choose to regulate mopeds on a statewide basis.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa suggested the Council look at ways to regulate moped mufflers and how much sound they can emit. “I think it would be (a) deterrent.”