Posted on: Friday, January 17, 2003

Program targets red-light violators

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Photo traffic enforcement is back in the Legislature this session, but this time it will target only red-light runners and not highway speeders.

State Sen. Cal Kawamoto and Rep. Joe Souki, who head each house's transportation committee, introduced bills that would establish a photo traffic enforcement program aimed at drivers who run red lights.

Pedestrian accidents increase every year, said Kawamoto, D-18th (Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City), chairman of the Senate Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations Committee.

"From 1998, it increased from 700 to close to 900 a year, and we gotta do something. We haven't done anything. And this is so far the best answer to enforcing or helping the pedestrians' safety," he said.

Kawamoto and House Transportation Committee Chairman Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waiehu), were the staunchest supporters of last year's highly unpopular photo traffic enforcement program, also known as the "van cam" law.

A private company began operating the traffic cameras to catch speeders in January 2002, but the program ended in April after legislators, responding to public outrage, repealed the law. The repealed law also would have allowed cameras to identify drivers who run red lights at intersections.

Kawamoto said that the current bill will consider photo enforcement only for red lights, and that the program would run more smoothly than the last one.

Educating the public would be a key part of the program, he said.

Kawamoto's bill, Senate Bill 89, would authorize the Department of Transportation to contract with a private vendor to operate a "photo red-light imaging system" demonstration project in selected areas in the state.

Souki's bill, House Bill 57, would establish a three-year pilot program for the red-light photo system on O'ahu.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.