Question: What is a slingshot-style vehicle? Is it legal to drive/ride them on the freeway? What kind of license do you have to have?
Answer: You are one of several readers asking after the Honolulu Police Department reported that a slingshot-style vehicle was rear-ended on the H-1 near the Honolulu airport Sunday night, killing its driver and passenger.
Slingshot style indicates the vehicle was a three-wheeled motor vehicle, often with no roof or doors, that sits low to the ground and has a steering wheel and seating like a car. The Polaris Slingshot is a popular model, and similar recreational vehicles are sometimes described as slingshot style. To be clear, these are motor vehicles, not recumbent bicycles, as another reader asked.
In Hawaii, three-wheeled motor vehicles are considered autocycles, and they are legal to drive on the freeway and other public roads. They generally have powerful motors that can easily reach (or exceed) the speed limit.
“Three-wheel vehicles are registered under the motorcycle category as autocycles. But a motorcycle license is not required to operate them; the standard type-3 license is required to operate them. In other words, they are treated the same as any other vehicle and follow the same rules,” Harold Nedd, a spokesperson for Honolulu’s Department of Customer Serv- ices, said in an email.
A standard license suffices because an autocycle has a steering wheel and layout like a car, he said, citing Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 286-2 and 286-71 for information.
Per HRS 286-2, the second definition of motorcycle is, “Every motor vehicle that has a steering wheel or handlebar and seating that does not require the operator to straddle or sit astride on it, is designed to travel on three wheels in contact with the ground, and is 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.”
Per 286-71: “(a) Every autocycle, as described in paragraph (2) of the definition of ‘motorcycle’ in section 286-2, operated in this State shall first be registered as a motor vehicle as provided in section 286-41.
“(b) No person shall operate an autocycle on a public street, road, or highway in this State unless the person possesses a valid type 3 driver’s license pursuant to section 286-102(b)(3) and the autocycle has been duly registered pursuant to subsection (a).
“(c) Occupants in an autocycle not equipped with a front windshield shall use eye protection.
“(d) All occupants in an autocycle shall comply with the seat belt requirements under section 291-11.6.
“(e) All dealers, sellers, lessors, and rental agencies shall be required to disclose the following, if true, regarding each autocycle offered for sale, lease, or rent, as applicable:
“(1) The autocycle does not meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for passenger vehicles and light trucks;
“(2) The autocycle is not equipped with airbags; and
“(3) Autocycle rollover protection has not been certified to protect an occupant from injury in the event of a rollover; therefore, the use of a department of transportation certified safety helmet is recommended when operating an autocycle.”
Rules regarding the licensing and operation of three-wheeled motor vehicles vary from state to state. In Hawaii, helmets are recommended for drivers and passengers in the open-air roadsters, but not required, and eye protection is required only when the autocycle lacks a front windshield.
Mahalo
Mahalo to the kind gentleman who helped me and my wife when the wheels locked up on our Costco shopping cart. He helped lift the front wheels so we could get the cart to our car and advised us how to prevent it from happening again. — A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
