Seat-belt fine total to triple
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state will collect three times more money this year compared with last year through citations issued during the "Click it or Ticket" seat-belt enforcement campaign, if police projections prove accurate.
Police issued more than 4,900 citations during the 2002 campaign. If all the errant drivers paid their $67 tickets, nearly $330,000 was collected.
In this year's campaign, which began Monday, officers expect to issue more than 12,400 tickets, according to police estimates filed with the state's application for a federal grant that pays for the project.
The cost of each citation has also increased by $10 this year, with the added money going to a special state fund to assist people who suffered traumatic brain and spinal injuries.
That will bring the total to nearly $955,000 this year if the citation estimates are met.
But officials are quick to point out that the program's purpose is to increase seat belt use and prevent deaths and injuries, not generate revenue.
"If everybody wears their seat belt and no one gets a ticket, that's fine with me," said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. "Seventy-seven dollars is a lot of money. You can use that to take your family to dinner and a movie instead."
The citation estimates do not reflect goals or quotas, but are realistic calculations meant to justify the release of money for the program, which will continue until June 1, he said.
The department administers the $225,000 grant, but does not directly benefit from the citations. Nor do the four county police agencies that issue the tickets.
Of the $77 collected for each ticket, $45 goes to the state general fund, $15 is an administrative fee that pays for processing the tickets, $7 goes toward driver education and $10 goes to the neurotrauma special fund.
Seat-belt use is mandatory in Hawai'i for drivers, all front-seat passengers, and rear-seat passengers younger than 18. Yet, 57 of the 85 people who died in auto crashes last year weren't buckled up.
The "Click it or Ticket" grant pays for officers who are deployed on overtime at checkpoints or on patrol to emphasize seat belt enforcement.
The nationwide program also targets those who fail to buckle children under age 4 in child safety seats. Citations for that offense cost between $100 and $500, depending on any history of prior violations.
Honolulu police were awarded $100,000 for the program, Maui and the Big Island received $50,000 each, and Kaua'i netted $25,000.
County mayors have long argued that traffic ticket revenue should not go to the state, but to the counties whose police departments issue the citations.
The Legislature this year rejected a proposal by Gov. Linda Lingle, formerly Maui's mayor, to send all fines and forfeitures collected for uncontested traffic infractions to the counties by fiscal year 2005.
