"A $97 ticket?!"

No warning, no slap on the hand, no sympathy. I had just purchased my moped, was new to O'ahu and was completely oblivious to the fact that two people were not allowed on a moped.

This meant nothing to the police officer issuing me a citation. Little did I know that this ticket would be the beginning of a long journey that would eventually uncover a serious problem with the availability of information concerning moped laws in the state of Hawai'i.

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse," the officer said, as he handed me the ticket.

"Count yourself lucky. I could have given your passenger a ticket, too."

OK, so he was right, ignorance is no excuse, but how exactly was I supposed to become aware of this law? Maybe I should have figured it out when I went to buy my moped. The rear pegs for a passenger should have been a dead giveaway. Actually, I should have known when the manager of the store gave me a lesson on the basics of driving a moped by riding as my passenger. Or, there was the even more obvious sign: many students at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa ride two to a moped. Of course, I should have known only one person is allowed on a moped.

I wanted to find out where these moped laws were posted. Considering how many mopeds I have seen since moving to O'ahu, I was certain that it would be a short search.

First I checked the obvious places: the Web sites for the Hawai'i Department of Motor Vehicles, the state Department of Transportation Public Affairs, the County of Honolulu and the Honolulu Police Department. After reading all about bicycle safety, bicycle traffic laws and motorcycle information, I was shocked that there was nothing on mopeds.

This lack of information couldn't possibly be due to a lack of moped riders. According to the Honolulu DMV, 13,706 mopeds were registered in Honolulu last year alone. The UH campus even issued 660 moped parking permits for the 2005 spring semester. Where are all these moped riders finding out about the laws?

I decided to abandon my Internet efforts and make phone calls. The first call was to the Honolulu DMV. I asked them if they had any handouts regarding moped laws. They did not, but they did tell me that the Hawai'i Revised Statutes might mention something about them.

Encouraged, I looked up the Hawai'i Revised Statutes and finally got a list of laws pertaining to mopeds. The list was definitely not easy to sift through, easy to read nor concise. Then HRS 291C-0201 caught my eye. This law states that "every person engaged in the retail business of selling or renting mopeds shall provide the person renting or purchasing a moped a copy of the rules for mopeds as approved by the director of transportation."

I hadn't been given a handout. Who was enforcing this law? Did the businesses even know that this law existed? I called some businesses and found that out of the four I talked to, all of them had no idea that there were any laws requiring them to post or hand out information about moped laws. Not only were the businesses not aware, but the police were in the dark, as well. When questioned, an officer at the Waikiki Patrol Office had never heard of such a law. There was definitely a break in the information chain somewhere.

The Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Safety Office was my next stop. I spoke to John Lovstedt, the highway safety manager, and found out that several years ago there had been a program that educated retailers and rental shops on moped laws and even gave them a list to hand out to their customers. Seems like a good idea to me, but why wasn't the program continued?

It is disturbing that last year, according to the Hawai'i Traffic Violations Bureau, 178 citations were issued for having two people on a moped, but no citations were given to any businesses for not providing the laws to their customers. If the state is concerned about the safety of its citizens with regards to mopeds, then it should address the problem where it begins. Without being informed, moped riders will continue to unknowingly break moped laws. If those laws are there for safety purposes, then those moped riders will also continue to be safety hazards to themselves and other people.

However, it is not the sole responsibility of the government to find and address problems such as the one concerning mopeds. It is the responsibility of every citizen to make sure that their laws are working for them.

"The police are only an extension of the public. It is up to the public to make the police aware of issues that threaten their safety," said Capt. Jose Gaytan of the Honolulu Police Department.

To address this issue, the police department will be adding a new page to its Web site dedicated to moped laws and safety. Even though that Web page is an accomplishment, more can be done. The Department of Motor Vehicle Safety should continue its abandoned program for educating moped businesses on the laws that pertain to them and their riders.

Send Lovstedt an e-mail at John.Lovstedt@hawaii.gov encouraging him to resume this program. The government is there to serve the people, but the people are the ones who make that happen.

Juanita Mathews of Waikiki is a student at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. She wrote this commentary for Ka Leo O Hawai'i, the campus newspaper, as its associate editorials editor.