DRIVE TIME
Study finds most obeying law on pickup truck riding
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Just a few years ago, some Hawai'i residents were still arguing that they had a cultural right to ride in the back of a pickup truck. The issue was one of the hottest topics at the state Legislature and around City Hall.
These days there's hardly any debate at all. A new study shows that an overwhelming number of Hawai'i drivers are complying with a 5-year-old law that puts strict limits on who can ride in a pickup bed.
The study, which observed more than 7,000 pickup trucks across the state earlier this year, found that less than one-half of 1 percent of all drivers are violating the law, which prohibits the transport of children 12 or younger in the bed and bars any adult from riding in the bed if a seat is available in the cab.
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"Fourteen (0.2 percent) of the observed trucks had children in the bed, while four (0.06 percent) had occupants in the cargo area and a single operator in the cab of the vehicle," notes the study, conducted by University of Hawai'i researchers for the state Department of Transportation.
Commuting
That's a remarkable compliance rate considering that in 1997, much of the state was divided on whether the law was just.
Although officials knew that pickup bed passengers were dangerously unprotected in accidents, many residents argued that trucks were the only affordable means of transportation for some people with large families. Making them give up their trucks would cause great economic hardship, some said. Others argued that the state had a colorful tradition of pickup travel, including taking a whole baseball team to the Little League field or a Girl Scout troop to a parade.
Lawmakers had waffled on passing a stricter new law for several years, but as often happens, a tragedy led to action. When a Kailua High School freshman was thrown from the bed of a truck and killed in 1996, lawmakers were given a clear signal that they no longer could refrain from action. A law limiting pickup bed riding was passed the next year.
Since then the state DOT has been keeping tabs on how well drivers are complying.
Even though compliance is generally high, there are some exceptions, researchers found. The highest percentage of violations tended to occur in rural areas, where there are lower speed limits and often one-lane roads. Kaua'i (1.22 percent) and Maui (0.96 percent) had the highest overall sightings of people riding in pickup beds, either legally or illegally, the report said.
While most people have gotten the message, the report concludes that "in order to curb illegal truck bed occupancy — especially among minors — programs and education and enforcement need to be developed and implemented."
Mike Leidemann's Drive Time column runs Tuesdays.
