Hawaii: No insurance payouts to cyclists?

For today’s game of Legislative Whack-A-Mole, I present HB 1423 from Hawaii. Representative Ken Ito in the Hawaii State House introduced this bill which “prohibits a bicyclist or moped operator injured in an accident with a motor vehicle from receiving personal injury protection benefits from the insurer of the motor vehicle.”

hawaii legislature header

Under Hawaii’s no-fault automotive insurance laws, personal injury protection policies pays medical expenses for the vehicle occupants in a covered vehicle. Additionally, current law stipulates the vehicle owner policy pays for injury to pedestrians, bicyclists and moped riders, no matter who is at fault. Current law excludes motorcycle riders from PIP payout, although the state does not require PIP coverage for motorcycle riders.

Ito’s bill excludes bicyclists and moped riders from the PIP coverage of a vehicle that hits them, classing them with the “operator or user of a motor vehicle engaging in criminal conduct.”

The Hawaiian Bicycling League has expressed strong opposition against HB 1423 to their stage legislators. They say that they believe this bill will die in committee.

For those who think this sounds equitable: Is PIP coverage even available for bicycle riders in Hawaii? For those bicycle riders with automobile insurance, their own PIP policy may cover them, but 4% of households in Honolulu County don’t have a vehicle available to them. The current law sounds a lot like the presumptive liability system we hear about for parts of Europe.

H/T Dennis Bearman.

One Comment

  1. This sounds like a carve-out that benefits the automotive users with no benefits or help to cyclists or mopeds. It is likely targeted at mopeds and gets cyclists in an opportunistic two-fer.

    So now cyclists have to pay their own medical bills when hit by a driver who “didn’t see” them as well as know that the driver won’t even get a traffic ticket let alone a misdemeanor charge. Great….

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