honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, March 12, 2004

City Council discusses return of van cams

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

Nearly everyone at yesterday's City Council hearing on traffic safety had a suggestion to try to end the carnage on Honolulu's highways and side streets:

More arrests. A new highway patrol. More traffic calming. A prize for those who race legally. More education. Even the return of traffic cameras.

"Maybe it's time to revisit the issue of van cams," said Transportation Committee Chairman Nestor Garcia, who plans to propose limited use of the high-tech cameras to let police catch late-night speeders on O'ahu freeways.

"Good idea, bad execution," Garcia said of the state-run van cam program two years ago that collapsed after only three months amid howls of public, legislative and judicial problems and protests.

Garcia said he would like to see a new traffic camera program limited to police working the overnight shift on Honolulu highways in hopes of cutting down on racing, reckless driving and excessive speeding that have claimed several lives recently.

"People have been asking that something be done, and maybe this time we can do the cameras right, bringing in community support up front," he said. "It would be done only to catch the most egregious speeders, not those going just a few miles over the speed limit."

The state Legislature would have to amend the traffic camera law to allow the city to operate them, Garcia said. The state supports a move that gives counties that authority, Transportation Director Rod Haraga said yesterday.

The van cams were just one of many ideas tossed around in a two-hour committee briefing to formulate an anti-racing and speeding strategy so "we don't all have to keep going to memorials for those who die on the road," Garcia said.

Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa said police have recently stepped up reckless-driving arrests for those who speed amid other traffic.

Convictions under the law have been notoriously hard to obtain in the past, but police want to send a new message to the speeders, he said.

"We want to arrest them, get them arraigned, send them into the judicial system and see where they come out," Correa said. "We want those who are going 80, 90 or 100 miles per hour in traffic to know they aren't going to get off with just a citation anymore."

Correa said police remain frustrated by the speeding and a growing number of related deaths, despite the fact that police issued a record number of more than 37,000 speeding citations last year.

"It seems the more tickets we give, the more fatalities we have," he said. "Everyone is a little frustrated and looking for answers."

Although many of the traffic laws have to be passed by the Legislature, Garcia said he planned to create a new task force or traffic summit later this year to find ways city government can deal with the problem.

Among the other ideas offered yesterday:

  • Councilman Mike Gabbard called for the creation of a City Highway Patrol made up of Honolulu police officers "whose sole responsibility will be to stop the carnage on our roads." A similar proposal to create a state highway patrol appears to be dead at the Legislature for this year.
  • Councilman Charles Djou suggested a program that might ban repeat traffic offenders from using city roads.
  • Dennis Kamimura, the city's head of motor vehicle licensing, said a nonprofit group or government agency might sponsor a prize for those who race legally at places like Hawaii Raceway Park instead of on freeways.
  • Cheryl Soon, director of city transportation services, said the council could consider ending a two-year moratorium on new traffic calming projects in Honolulu neighborhoods.
  • Mike Oakland, owner of Hawaii Raceway Park, said more drivers should be educated about the physics of what a car does. "Remember, it's never the car. It's always the driver," he said.
  • Kai Chiasson, head of the newly formed Car Enthusiasts Against Street Racing group, also said more could be done to encourage young people to keep their racing legal. "We're all kind of tired of losing friends to street racing," he said. "They should be reminded to keep it all on the track."

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.