Certified traffic abstracts relating to any person are available at District Court Traffic Violations Bureaus throughout the state. Pursuant to Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) Section 287-3 , the abstracts show "all alleged moving violations and any convictions resulting therefrom, arising from the operation of a motor vehicle and any administrative license revocation" for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. Parking and equipment violations do not appear on a traffic abstract. The abstracts are normally used for insurance as well as employment and other purposes.
How can I get a copy of an abstract?
To obtain a traffic abstract, provide the individual's full name. The date of birth and driver's license number may also be submitted to ensure that the requested record is provided. If the name only is provided and the search results in more than one record with the same name, the requestor may have to purchase all records with the same name. A release form is required to obtain juvenile records. Each abstract is a certified court record and costs $7. Personal checks are not accepted.
Mailed requests should include a self-addressed stamped envelope, along with a money order or cashiers check for $7 (payable to District Court), and the individual's full name, date of birth and driver's license number. The request should be mailed to the Traffic Violations Bureau at the District Court.
An individual can also get his or her own complete traffic abstract for $7. This abstract shows all traffic violations (moving, equipment and parking) that the court has in its computer system. A photo I.D. is required.
What appears on an abstract?
The abstract includes all alleged moving violations arising from the operation of a motor vehicle from 1995 and any administrative driver's license revocation that resulted from operating a vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant. The court's action, including convictions and dismissals, will also appear on the abstract.
Why only 10 years of data?
HRS Section 287-3 requires that Traffic Violations Bureau abstracts furnish "all alleged moving violations." When launching a new, statewide case management system, the Judiciary weighed the value of converting information from the old case management system to the new, and looked at how the information may be used to meet state sanctioning and federal reporting requirements.
For state sanctioning purposes, Hawai`i courts must report at least ten years of information about certain moving violations. See e.g. HRS Section 291E-61.5 In addition, federal commercial driver's license regulations require that the state be able to report information about drivers from the time the federal law became effective in the mid 1990s. See 49 U.S.C. 31301 et seq. Some of the reportable information must be kept for 55 years.
As a result of these concerns, when converting data from the old system to the new, the Judiciary converted and reports data from 1995. The prior practice of reporting only three years of data did not conform to HRS Section 287-3 and has been discontinued.