10 intersections are new focus for ticket camera bill

Mar. 20—Pending legislation aimed at ticketing speeding Hawaii drivers using automated cameras took another sharp turn Tuesday, with proposed use redirected to 10 Honolulu intersections where cameras already cite red-light runners.

Pending legislation aimed at ticketing speeding Hawaii drivers using automated cameras took another sharp turn Tuesday, with proposed use redirected to 10 Honolulu intersections where cameras already cite red-light runners.

The House Judiciary Committee amended Senate Bill 2443 to place an automated speed enforcement program at the intersections where a red-light enforcement pilot project began in late 2022.

State Rep. David Tarnas, chair of the committee, said he proposed the change in part to reduce the program's cost and to give the public a chance to adapt.

"I want to be really cautious about moving forward with the automated speed enforcement program, " said Tarnas (D, Hawi-­Waimea-Waikoloa ) before the committee voted unanimously to advance the amended measure.

SB 2443 and companion House Bill 2267 were originally drafted to enforce speed limits using cameras at fixed locations on state or county highways.

But after introduction in January, the House measure stalled, and the Senate bill was changed twice in recent weeks.

First, a pair of Senate committees Feb. 12 amended SB 2443 to limit automated speed enforcement to no more than 10 school zones. Then the House Transportation Committee on March 12 altered the bill to have the program operate in at least one school or construction zone per county.

During Tuesday's hearing, state Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen supported the school and work zone enforcement focus.

"We all know that our police forces are very good partners, but they can't be everywhere, " he said. "So we are hopeful that we can put enforcement in different zones, especially where people are at risk, especially where we know there are going to be a lot of pedestrians, a lot of bicyclists, like in school areas."

DOT has supported all prior versions of the bill, as has the Honolulu Police Department.

"We believe that any measures that contribute to the enforcement of speeding vehicles is necessary, as higher speeds can equate to less reactionary time as well as higher propensity for property damage and injuries, " Maj. Stason Tanaka with HPD's traffic division told the committee. "In addition, speeding is a major contributing factor to many of our motor vehicle collisions resulting in critical injuries and fatalities."

DOT said in written testimony that speeding was a major contributing factor in half of the state's 95 motor vehicle fatalities in 2023.

The agency's red-light camera program is a two-year pilot project, and produced about 13, 500 citations in its first nearly full year of operations. The cameras already track vehicle speeds for research purposes and can be programmed to issue speeding citations.

Citations for red-light running are issued to registered owners of vehicles caught by the system, and speed enforcement would be the same.

Sniffen said during Tuesday's hearing that he wouldn't support issuing citations for traveling 1 mph over the speed limit and that a 10 mph cushion has generally been established.

The state once before rolled out an automated speed enforcement program, but it did not go well.

That program began in 2002 under a state law enacted in 1998 and modified in 2000, and was supposed to be a three-year statewide pilot project involving operators of laser-equipped cameras stationed in roadside vans to ticket speeders and red-light runners.

During an initial two days of operation, 1, 557 speeding citations were generated, compared with an average 100 daily citations by police for a variety of traffic offenses.

A public outcry, which included allegations that the contractor and state were incentivized by revenue to maximize citations, led to the "van cam " program being canceled after only three months of operation on Oahu.

Out of 18, 954 citations issued during the curtailed operation, most were dismissed because the state Judiciary wasn't pursuing fines for exceeding the speed limit by less than 10 mph even though DOT was allowing citations for driving at least 6 mph over the limit. Other citations were dismissed for different reasons, including a lack of documentation.

SB 2443 faces more consideration and possible changes ahead.

If advanced next by the House Finance Committee and the full House, the bill could be acceptable to the full Senate, or a committee of Senate and House negotiators could agree on a compromise draft for final full Senate and House votes. The bill also could die without a vote at some point or get voted down.