VOLCANIC ASH
The arrogance of speeders

By David Shapiro

It's been unsettling to watch the battle over traffic cameras unfold against the backdrop of the Clyde Arakawa manslaughter trial for drunken and reckless driving.

Many who oppose camera enforcement of speeding laws raise reasonable objections about fairness, profit motive and Big Brotherism.

But more extreme opponents, who have the attention of legislators, have turned the fight into a celebration of speeding — as a daring lifestyle, a badge of fashionable rebelliousness and a populist political statement.

In the middle of the Arakawa trial, for instance, a writer I respect in another publication boasted of saluting a camera van while weaving in and out of traffic at 70 miles per hour on the Pali Highway — the same Pali Highway where the drunk and speeding Arakawa struck Dana Ambrose to such tragic consequence.

This isn't to suggest traffic cameras would have saved Dana Ambrose. But the rationalizations are the same.

Arakawa didn't believe he was reckless when he raced his Thunderbird up the Pali that night after several drinks too many. Similarly, drivers who habitually speed never think they're acting recklessly — until somebody's life is crushed on the hood of their car.

We've heard many dubious arguments to excuse speeding. That those who drive the speed limit are more dangerous than drivers who speed to keep up with traffic flow. That quick glances at the speedometer are more hazardous than speeding. That the poor slobs who speed are just trying to get to work on time. Never mind that speeding shortens even O'ahu's longest commutes by very few minutes.

Hawai'i has some of the lowest speed limits in the nation, and they probably should be increased in spots. But there's little question that bringing traffic flow more in line with speed limits would save lives on our highways.

Public officials who still support more fairly implemented traffic cameras claim to represent a "silent majority."

I don't know if they're a majority, but judging by my e-mail, there are indeed a good many people who don't speed, have no fear of being ticketed by cameras and approve of slowing down drivers who whiz by them. Frightened lawmakers had better worry about these voters, too.

It seems sensible, given our investment in the traffic cameras, to try to work out the kinks and give the initiative a fair chance to show if it can improve highway safety. If the credibility of the system is so shot that it can't be salvaged, let's hope lawmakers won't make matters worse.

Imagine the highway chaos if legislators increase speed limits at the same time they cut back enforcement, while police and the courts continue to observe a 10-mph threshold over the speed limit before dispensing penalties.

I was driving up Punchbowl to the Pali last weekend when the Vineyard stoplight caught me in the wrong lane to merge onto the highway. I raced across the intersection when the light changed, hoping to cut ahead of other cars in the merge lane.

That's when I saw a mother herding three toddlers across the street. I had time to slow down, but it didn't erase the terror in the mother's eyes when she saw me bearing down on her children.

I was shaken all the way home, disgusted that I could have thought the risk I took was worth the 30 seconds of drive time it saved. I was only grateful that, unlike Clyde Arakawa, I wouldn't have to contemplate that reckless mistake from a jail cell for the next 20 years.

David Shapiro can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.