Drivers welcome demise of program
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What do you think of Gov. Ben Cayetano's order to pull the plug on the unpopular traffic camera enforcement program? Join our discussion |
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The people of O'ahu will not weep over the death of the van cams.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
But like a eulogy for someone whom nobody really liked, they struggled yesterday to find good things to say about a program that was designed to slow speeders and ended up being crushed by the weight of public anger and controversy.
Ryan Garcia says he didn't have a problem with the van cams, but he's happy about not having to worry about being caught on camera.
"I suppose I'm happy because I can't get a ticket from them," 19-year-old Ryan Garcia, a University of Hawai'i business student, said as he slid into his gray, weather-worn 1986 Honda Accord. "At the same time, I never had a huge problem with it in the first place. Holding people accountable to the laws that are already in place doesn't seem like such a bad idea."
For many more people, though, the news that Gov. Ben Cayetano killed the van cam program sparked broad grins and even outright cheering.
"Whoo-hoo!" said Charlene De La Cruz of Waikele. "Great. Awesome. Thank you."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Most drivers yesterday complained that the van cam program had been citing drivers for going less than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit, or that the vans themselves caused people to swerve or brake suddenly, or that the program seemed to be more about generating revenue for a private company than reducing speeding around areas such as school zones.
Charlene De La Cruz cheered when she heard the news about the traffic cameras.
"From Day 1 I've always thought that the van cams created as many problems as they were meant to solve," said Jerry Linville, who works at the University of Hawai'i as the executive director of the Hawai'i Council on Economic Education. "Getting rid of (the program) is far better than keeping it."
Jane Hopkins had perhaps the best reason of all to be angry about the ticket she got in the mail for speeding on the Pali Highway. A van cam operator snapped a photo of Hopkins' license plate on her 2001 red Subaru Forester. But she wasn't at the wheel. Or even in the car.
Her boyfriend, Ian Gillespie, was driving. So Hopkins, a 31-year-old production director, took time off to go to traffic court last month to make sure the ticket stayed off of her driving record and out of the hands of her insurance company.
"It was a pain," she said. "They didn't even see the person who was driving, but I had to go to court and say it wasn't me. They gave my boyfriend the ticket instead."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Gillespie paid his fine, and he and Hopkins are still together.
Jerry Linville said it's far better to get rid of the program than keeping it.
Like others, Wes Nakano, a 19-year-old DJ from Kaimuki, said that he would much rather be stopped by a Honolulu police officer than find out weeks later that an anonymous camera operator had taken a picture of his license plate.
"They can't even prove it was you who was speeding," he said.
Throughout the short life of the van cams, it was the faceless nature of the program that seemed to anger people as much as anything else.
"It's like they're trying to trick us," said Aaron Ching, a 19-year-old UH sophomore whose van cam ticket on the Likelike Highway was one of the hundreds dismissed the first day the program was challenged in court.
Or maybe it's just that speeders would rather take their chances trying to talk their way out of a ticket in front of the police.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Whatever their reasons, most people yesterday swore that Honolulu is better off without those vans parked along the side of the road.
Aaron Ching had his van camera ticket dismissed the first day the program was challenged in court.
"They shouldn't have been here, period," said Monty Siron, a photocopier technician who sees the vans on his service calls. "The vans themselves make you distracted."
Ted Tabadero said he would be tooling out of the darkness of the Wilson Tunnel in his 1990 Acura Integra and suddenly find himself behind a river of brake lights.
"I'll be going the flow of traffic and all of a sudden all of the cars will be slowing down because of those van cams," he said.
And Mike Buchanan said he believes he would have created a chain-reaction if he had hit the brakes for the van cam when he came out of the Pali tunnels in January.
"I couldn't hit the brakes because the car behind me was going the same speed," said Buchanan, 40, who works with UH's Athletes in Action program.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Buchanan said he ended up getting a van-cam ticket for going 7 mph over the speed limit, although the ticket was later dismissed in court.
Cadyce Yee said she only slowed down when she saw the vans, then sped up again.
But Buchanan's wife, Alison, 33, is among those who changed their driving habits when the van cams started popping up around town.
Now she rarely goes even 5 mph over the speed limit.
She may be in the minority, however, as many people indicated yesterday that whatever positive effect the van cams had on their driving may have been short-lived.
"I just slow down for that split second when I see the vans," said Cadyce Yee, 20. "Then you go off and speed again. ... Everybody does that."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
