Senators urge state to study red-light enforcement camera
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Traffic enforcement cameras may not be on the street, but they are still an issue at the Legislature.
Two Senate committees Wednesday approved resolutions asking the state Department of Transportation to conduct a study on establishing a traffic camera program on O'ahu aimed at catching red-light runners.
Senate Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations Committee Chairman Cal Kawamoto, among the staunchest supporters of the traffic camera program, introduced the resolutions. Kawamoto's committee and the Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee approved the measures, which now go to the full Senate for a floor vote.
The resolutions note that because the photo red-light enforcement project was never implemented as planned last year, "there is no way to accurately study its effect and whether it would be publicly accepted and useful in the state." They ask the Transportation Department to submit the study to the Legislature before next year's session.
The department submitted testimony supporting the resolutions.
Kawamoto, D-18th (Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City), and House Transportation Committee Chairman Joe Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waiehu), had introduced bills in January to establish red-light traffic camera enforcement programs, but Souki shelved them, saying the timing wasn't right to begin debating traffic cameras again.
Last year, a state traffic camera program — which included cameras to catch speeders — enraged motorists and prompted lawmakers to repeal the program.
