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Emergency stopping only
Safety tips for shoulder use
Conclusion
 

Emergency stopping only

The shoulder of the road is the area that is sometimes, but not always, next to the active lanes of that road on the right and/or left of those lanes. Many roads do have shoulders, but some do not. The shoulder is never to be used for driving or recreational stopping.

The shoulder of a road is for stopping in case you are having car trouble, a health issue or some other emergency that reasonably would suddenly prevent you from driving safely. Needing to return a text or to get out and stretch your legs does not qualify as such an emergency and could result in you getting a ticket if you use the shoulder for reasons like these.

The reason that you can only use the shoulder for emergency stopping is that it needs to be clear for emergency vehicles such as fire trucks, police cars and ambulances to be able to get around heavy amounts of traffic in a hurry. Also, the shoulder would have less space to stop in case of a personal emergency or car trouble if drivers were allowed to stop there for recreational reasons.
 

Safety tips for shoulder use

Pulling over on the shoulder is typically safe, but there is definitely a risk of danger from the passing traffic. That is why you should take as much caution as possible whenever you need to pull over on the shoulder. You can start by signaling before you pull over that you are going to do so.

When you are pulling over, make sure that you pull over as far as you can in order to put as much space as possible in between you and oncoming traffic. Finally, keep your hazard lights on for the duration of the time that you are pulled over on the shoulder so that other motorists will have the absolute best chance of seeing you just in case they also need to pull onto the shoulder in the same area.
 

Conclusion

The shoulder in Hawaii and anywhere else in the US in for emergency stopping only. Emergency stopping constitutes an issue with your car affecting its performance and/or safety, a personal health issue that is preventing you from driving or driving safely and being pulled over by the police. You may not use the shoulder for something recreational such as a quick phone call. Always be as safe as possible when you are using the shoulder of the road in Hawaii.

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The penalties for speeding in Hawaiii
The risk you take when you speed in Hawaii
Conclusion
 

The penalties for speeding in Hawaiii

Speeding in Hawaii is just as much of a serious moving violation as it is anywhere else. If you are caught you will pay, literally. Like many other states in the country, Hawaii has a general speeding definition as well what is known as an absolute limit. The general definition is that someone will be considered speeding when they are driving at a speed that is unreasonable and greater than what current conditions such as heavy traffic or inclement weather would call for.

The absolute limits are much easier to understand and are more precisely defined. Another phrase for these absolute limits is speed limit. So, this is the hard miles per hour limit that each road provides for anyone driving on them. Any time that you get a ticket for speeding, it will be because you violated the speed limit and your exact number of miles per hour over the limit will be specified and recorded on the ticket.

In Hawaii, the fines for speeding are typically two hundred dollars for a first offense, three hundred for a second offense, and five hundred for a third offense within a year. However, this is for speeding violations of about ten miles per hour. If you are caught “excessively speeding” the penalty will be considerably more severe. Depending on the circumstance of a ticket and how severe the offense was, your insurance rates can also increase.

Excessive speeding is when a driver is driving eighty or more miles per hour and/or driving thirty-five miles an hour above the posted speed limit. The penalties for excessive speeding in Hawaii include fines of five hundred to a thousand dollars, license suspension and possible community service or jail time. Each one of these penalties will be more severe with each repeat offense within a five-year period.
 

The risk you take when you speed in Hawaii

When you speed or excessively speed in Hawaii or anywhere else, you are taking a big risk for yourself, your passengers and other drivers out on the road. You are putting them and yourself at risk of getting into a very serve accident that can cause serious injury or death.

When you speed it will take you a longer distance to come to a complete stop, there is a higher potential for the loss of control of the vehicle, a higher potential for a rollover and more of a chance for a multi-car accident. In fact, over one quarter of all traffic related deaths were directly related to speeding in in the US in 2019.
 

Conclusion

Speeding in Hawaii can be extremely costly when it comes to getting caught. You will need to pay hundreds in fines, have your insurance rates increase, possibly get your license suspended and/or spend time in jail. If that is all that happens as a result of your speeding, consider yourself lucky. That is because speeding can easily lead to you causing an accident where you hurt or kill yourself, your passengers or someone else on the road. Whatever you do, keep your speed under the speed limit.

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What counts as an unsafe lane change
What is the penalty for an unsafe lane change in Hawaii
Final word
 

What counts as an unsafe lane change

In Hawaii, or anywhere else for that matter, an unsafe lane change is when you change lanes without using your signal and/or first physically checking to make sure that it is safe to do so. This can include starting to signal as you are already changing lanes. As a rule of thumb, you should always check your blind spot before you change lanes as well as signal at least a hundred feet before you actually change lanes.

Its important to obey these rules, not just to avoid being pulled over and getting a ticket but also to avoid getting into a possible accident. You can easily get hit from behind as you change lanes if you do not give drivers in the lane you are merging into the right notice that you are doing so. You can also end up trading paint with the car next to you if you do not check your blind spot before trying to change lanes.
 

What is the penalty for an unsafe lane change in Hawaii

If you do end up getting caught making an unsafe lane change, you will be pulled over, ticketed and fined. The fine will likely cost you about two hundred dollars. There might also be court surcharges involved which can increase the price of the overall fine by about fifty dollars. Odds are you will likely have to go to court to determine the amount of money you will need to pay.

In addition to that you could potentially have your insurance rates increased. The way this is determined in Hawaii is based on the severity of the offense rather than automatic points on your license. If your unsafe lane change was deemed aggressive by a police officer, it caused an accident and/or this is a repeated offense by you, your insurance premiums will likely increase by at least ten percent.
 

Final word

Changing lanes safely is one of the simplest things that you can do while you are driving. However, many people take it for granted, get careless, or do so too haphazardly. When you change lanes in an unsafe manner, you put yourself and other motorists at risk of an accident which can result in damage to the vehicles involved or even injury. If you are caught changing lanes unsafely in Hawaii, you will be fined, likely will need to go to court and might even have your insurance premiums rise.

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How your car’s power windows work
How to ensure your power windows keep working well
Wrapping up
 

How your car’s power windows work

Power windows are a useful modern tool that makes your driving experience easier. Some of you may not remember this but cars that were produced a couple of decades ago had windows that had to be manually rolled down. If you are driving and you wanted your window rolled down or up, you had to take one had off the wheel and roll it up rotation after rotation using a handle. With power windows, all you have to do is press a button. Plus, in most cases, the driver will also have the same power over the other windows of the vehicle.

The way that power windows make rolling them up and down so easy is through a mechanical system in your door. This system is powered the driver’s door which is powered by a circuit breaker. The power from the circuit breaker is sent to a contact point in the center of the driver door where it is sent to either the driver’s window or the other windows. When you press a certain button, it connects a specific window to the power, when no buttons are pressed, no windows are connected to the power center point hence nothing happens.
 

How to ensure your power windows keep working well

Many people take their power windows for granted these days. They press a button, and a specific window does exactly what they want. Most people assume that their mechanic will take care of anything that is off with the power windows when they take their car in for service. However, you can extend the life of your power windows by doing a few simple things.

First, you should make sure that the window rubbers are always clean. Any dirt and grime will make it more difficult for the windows to go up and down. Next, you need to lubricate the rubbers near the base of your windows with silicon spray every so often as this will maximize performance. You should also utilize the power window lock when you have any kids in the car. Kids have a tendency to play with buttons, if they do this with the power window, they can end up burning out the mechanism. Finally, you must always get anything wrong with the windows or their buttons fixed as soon as you notice something is broken or off. Letting an issue go for too long can lead to much more serious and expensive issues with the power windows.
 

Wrapping up

Your car’s power windows are a major convenience in comparison to the arduous way that windows used to have to be manually rolled up. You must make sure that you do not neglect your power windows. This includes making sure that the rubber at the base is clean and lubricated as well as getting any problems fixed as soon as possible. Remember, your windows are powered by a fairly delicate mechanism, do not play with your windows or allow any passengers as the mechanism can burn out with sudden overuse.

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How defensive driving can keep you safe
Insurance rate benefit to completing a defensive driving course
Final word
 

How defensive driving can keep you safe

By taking a defensive driving course and properly utilizing the skills that you learn from the course when you are driving, you will effectively be able to greatly reduce risks by anticipating hazardous situations and better identifying risks such as reckless drivers. During a defensive driving course, you will learn about a vehicle’s safety equipment as well as how to properly use it, accident prevention techniques, Hawaii’s state driving laws, the details behind each of those laws and about the factors that can cause accidents such as the human element and weather.

In Hawaii, you will have the option of taking a defensive driving course in-person or online. This course will take somewhere between four and eight hours depending on which course your insurance provider allows you to take for a point and/or rate reduction. You can see all the defensive driving course options that you might have by clicking here.
 

Insurance rate benefit to completing a defensive driving course

The other major benefit to taking a defensive driving course in Hawaii is that you will be able to get a discount on your car insurance by completing the course. If you committed a serious enough traffic infraction that you were ticketed or even arrested, you can also use the completion of a defensive driving course to get the points you received taken off your license. This could, in turn, prevent your insurance rates from going up as a result of the infraction.

The amount of the reduction that you will receive will vary depending on which insurance company you have. The discount will be between five and twenty percent and will last for three years. After three years, you will need to re-take the course in order to continue the discounted insurance rate. In most instances, the insurance discount will be ten percent.
 

Final word

Taking a defensive driving course will really help keep you a lot safer when you are out on the road in Hawaii. It will also help keep your insurance rates as low as possible. Whatever your reason may be for taking the course, whether you do it in person or online, the course will only take between four and eight hours once every three years. So, it is well worth your time to do it.

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What hubcaps do
The types of hubcaps
Wrapping up
 

What hubcaps do

Your car’s hubcaps protect or partially protect the inner components of your car’s wheels, such as the nuts and bolts, from dirt and rust buildup. They also make your car look nicer. In terms of protection, if you are using the standard hubcaps you got with the car, odds are that they are standard plastic hubcaps. One thing that many people do not know is that the term “hubcap” only refers to the center part of an entire wheel cover. Many people use “hubcap” interchangeably with “wheel cover” or even “rims.” For our purposes, “hubcap” will encompass all of these.

These will do a little to help protect the inner parts of your wheels but not much. If you are concerned about protecting these parts of your wheels, you should opt to get steel hubcaps instead. However, as long as you are regularly getting your car washed and your tires serviced, you can drive around without hubcaps entirely.
 

The types of hubcaps

There are a few different types of hubcaps that you can choose from for your car. The first type is a standard and bare center-cap only. These run about twenty bucks for four. They offer minimum protection, but it is fine to drive with these as long as you get your car washed and tires serviced on a regular basis.

The next type are the factory quality wheel covers. You can get four of these for about thirty to sixty dollars. These will actually cover all of your wheel’s internal components but are still not the best choice if you are looking for top-level protection.

The type of hubcaps/wheel covers that offer the maximum protection for your wheels internal components are premium wheel covers. These are made of the most durable materials such as steel and will look better than the factory quality wheel covers. For four of them you should expect the cost to run between seventy and a hundred dollars.

Finally, there are also luxury level hubcaps/wheel covers. These are the best-looking hubcaps and can offer a decent amount of protection as well. These will run over a hundred dollars for four of these and will include “rims.”
 

Wrapping up

Your car’s “hubcaps” can protect the internal parts of your wheel. However, they are not a necessity because with regular car washes and tire service, dirt or potential rust build-up will be taken care of. For a better overall look for your car, hubcaps/wheel covers can definitely help if you buy some higher end covers.

Whether you have hubcaps on your vehicle or not, you can always get your car moved to or from Hawaii with our expert team of auto transport experts. Get a free instant quote anytime online!

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How the ignition works
How to know if your ignition if failing
Final word
 

How the ignition works

Your car’s ignition system is made up of several primary components, the coil, the distributor and its parts, the spark plugs, wires and ignition module. If you do not know what any of these things are or what they do, do not worry. If anything goes wrong with them your mechanic will know when you take your car in for service.

Your ignition system starts with the ignition coil which takes power from the battery and converts it into a spark that eventually ignites the vapor from your gas. This is the “combustion’ in a combustion engine. However, once the spark is created, it needs something to get it to where it needs to be in order to ignite the vapor. That is what the distributor starts, it essentially points the spark in the right direction. It is eventually the spark plug that actually ignites the vapor in the cylinder head. The wires are what transfers the spark from the distributor and its parts to the spark plug prior to the actual ignition of the fumes.
 

How to know if your ignition if failing

There are very blatant and impossible to ignore signs that your ignition has failed. The biggest one is that your car will not start. However, there are a few warning signs that will give you some time before it fails completely so that you can get it into the shop or diagnose and fix the problem first.

If you start having trouble turning the key, it could be a sign of a failing ignition. If you turn your key to the “ACC” position (turning the key without doing so all the way) and your car’s accessories do not get power or only partial power, this too could be a sign of a failing ignition. If your car stalls while you are driving, this is also indicative of a ignition that’s failing. If you experience any of these things, get your car in for service right away.

You can also do a few things to ensure that your ignition does not fail. The first is that, if you are not driving regularly, be sure to run your car for at least a few minutes every day or at least a few times a week. Extended periods of not using the ignition can cause issues. You should also make sure that your spark plugs are not too old. Most people will not know how to diagnose or fix this, so just ask your mechanic to check this each time they have the car.
 

Final word

Your car’s ignition is literally and figuratively the spark that powers the engine and the vehicle as a whole. Like anything else with your car, it can fail because of problems or wear and tear. Be sure you are using your car enough and that your mechanic always checks the condition of the components of your ignition system, especially the spark plugs.

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The frequency of drunk driving in Hawaii
The large penalties for drunk driving
Final word
 

The frequency of drunk driving in Hawaii

In a perfect world, no one would drive while drunk, while under the influence of alcohol or while impaired anywhere at any time. Unfortunately, that is just not the case. The same goes for Hawaii. In Hawaii, drunk driving occurred slightly less in 2019 than it did in 2018. Overall, in 2018, Hawaii was in the lower half of the country when it came to drunk driving arrests per capita as well as fatalities from drunk driving accidents.

Regardless of that, you should obviously never even consider driving under the influence in Hawaii or anywhere else, for your own sake and for the sake of other drivers out on the road. You should also always be driving alertly and defensively because of the possibility of other drunk drivers out on the road.

In order to avoid any accidents with potential drunk drivers, there are a few easy things that you can do. This includes making sure you always have your seatbelt on, keeping a good distance from drivers in front of you, being extra cautious at intersections and avoid driving late at night especially on holidays or on the eve of holidays. If you do see someone you think is driving drunk or under the influence, pull over and call 911 immediately.
 

The large penalties for drunk driving

The penalties for driving drunk or under the influence are severe in Hawaii as they are anywhere else in the United States. For a first offense DUI with a blood alcohol level over .08% a driver in Hawaii will lose their license for a year, have to enter a short rehab program, complete over seventy hours of community service and/or several days in jail and/or a one thousand dollar fine.

For a second DUI conviction a driver in Hawaii will lose their license for two to three years, get fined up to $3,000 and they will get over two hundred hours of community service or thirty days in jail. For third and subsequent DUI arrests, the driver will get five years in jail or five years’ probation. They will also get fined up to $5,000, lose their license for five years and will need to enter a longer-term substance abuse program.
 

Final word

Drunk driving is exceptionally careless and selfish. It puts your life and the lives of everyone else out on the road at risk. If you are caught, you will face extreme consequences. You will lose your license for over a year, possibly go to jail, and get fined thousands of dollars. Plus, your legal fees will run several thousand dollars. Many estimate getting a DUI in 2021 and beyond will easily cost you over $15,000 in the end. Just do not do it.

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The way that torque will affect driving
Getting the most out of your car’s torque
Wrapping up
 

The way that torque will affect driving

Torque is a twisting force that your car’s engine creates which generates power to engine output along with horsepower. Specifically, torque contributes primarily to heavy hauling or towing by employing a twisting energy through the engine that affects the rest of the vehicle’s performance.

In Hawaii, torque will be important, as we mentioned, if you intend on towing or hauling anything. This is obviously important during a big move, for example. However, torque also matters in a big way for climbing any sort of steep slope. When you are driving up any sort of steep incline, your car will need as much continuous force as it can get which is why torque can be so important. In Hawaii, there are a few areas on each island where elevation climbs on roads rapidly. This includes Waipio Valley Road which is widely considered the steepest road in the entire United States.
 

Getting the most out of your car’s torque

If you do plan on doing any heavy hauling or driving in the non-city areas of Hawaii with all of the steep inclines, you will want to maximize your engine’s torque. There are a few simple ways that you can achieve this.

In terms of maximizing torque’s performance, be sure that you are getting your car regular tune-ups. If something is not working properly or clogged in your engine, this can limit the amount of torque that it can generate. Next, if you plan on driving up any steep inclines, be sure that you lighten your car’s load as much as you can. The amount of torque you might need for heavy hauling and up a steep incline might be too great for your specific vehicle. You should also consider installing a supercharger or a cold-air intake. These things can easily boost power to your engine which will contribute to more overall torque.
 

Wrapping up

The torque in your vehicle is always generating power for your car’s performance. However, it is not always critically important. When you are hauling, towing or carrying anything heavy, it is. Torque might be at its most important in Hawaii when you are ascending a steep incline. It generates the power that you will need in order to push up the road against the force of gravity.

If you need your car moved to or from Hawaii, you should give us a call today at (808) 445-6695 for a free quote. You can also get a free instant quote online by visiting our homepage.

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How dash cams decrease your risk of liability
What you need to know about dash cams
Final word
 

How dash cams decrease your risk of liability

A dash cam can make the difference between you being responsible for the damages in a car accident and you not having to pay a dime in that situation. Dash cameras provide proof that you and your vehicle were not to blame in bad situations. The value of having one in your car is just as high in Hawaii as it is anywhere else in the world.

An example of a dash camera getting you out of trouble in terms of the liability of an accident could be if someone stops short in front of you and you hit them. Without any hard evidence, the driver with the car in front of them would be liable because they are assumed to have been able to take evasive action. With a dash cam, you will be able to prove that there was no time for you to react and that the action of the driver in front of you was reckless.
 

What you need to know about dash cams

Dash cameras actually have a bunch of benefits. Not only can they help you in a big way in terms of liability, but they can prevent a break-in or theft. If a potential thief sees a dash cam, they will likely move on to the next vehicle because they do not want video evidence of their crime being left behind. Dash cams can also help keep your insurance premiums low by preventing fault being placed on you as we previously discussed.

You should also be aware of the fact that there are different types of dash cams to choose from. There are SD cameras which record on to a hard copy. There are also connected cams which send all footage wirelessly to you at a central point such as your phone or computer. Both types may or may not have the capability of running while you are not operating your car. Be sure you ask any vendor about that before buying one. You also need to decide if you just want a front-facing camera, rear-facing and/or cab-facing camera. Having all three gives you the most protection.
 

Final word

Dash cams are a massive help in terms of preventing yourself from being stuck with a big bill for damages to your car and/or someone else’s car in the case of an accident. They can also help you fight tickets, prevent theft, and keep your insurance costs low. It borders on a non-brainer getting one or more dash cameras for your vehicle. Just be sure you research and decide which type of dash cams are right for you before you actually buy one.