EDITORIAL
Tickets bad enough without insurance hike

One of the spookiest features of the state's traffic camera surveillance program is its potential to jack up our insurance rates. Indeed, the Traffic Violations Bureau has confirmed that it will record all moving violations on a driver's abstract. Insurance companies tend to use these driving records as a key indicator in setting rates.

Now, with more Hawai'i motorists vulnerable to automated speeding tickets, we're delighted to hear that at least one major Hawai'i auto insurance company might not allow the photo citations to affect premiums.

In testimony before the Senate Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations, Robin Campaniano, the president and chief executive officer of AIG Hawai'i, questioned whether the program is intended to make the roads safer or raise more revenues for the state.

If the latter is true, he said, and speed traps are placed in select areas to generate the maximum number of citations, then AIG would question the validity of those citations. Campaniano points out that if the project results in fewer accidents, "we do not need to see these citations on our customers' traffic abstracts. The fruit of fewer accidents will be fewer families losing loved ones and lower insurance premiums for all drivers."

We hope other insurance companies make a similar deduction. The program must be about safety, not money. Yet some believe the only way to make the system work is to hit motorists in the pocketbook. We disagree.

A program to catch speeders and red-light runners should be able to ensure road safety without being overly punitive. In Washington, D.C., for example, laws prevent the camera enforcement from issuing points on drivers' records. Their cameras, which also are operated by Affiliated Computer Services, only shoot the rear license plate and cannot prove who was driving to assess points.

Under Hawai'i's program, the registered owner of the vehicle is responsible for the citation, which will show up on an abstract. If the registered owner wasn't driving the vehicle, and can identify who was, that person is responsible for the citation. The question of liability is already murky, so let's not muddy it further with the question of who will be penalized with higher insurance premiums.

This is a ticket issued against a car, not a person. It should not be used to build a case against an individual's driving record.