Posted on: Monday, May 17, 2004

EDITORIAL
Traffic ticket fines belong in legal system

For years, Hawai'i's four counties have been struggling to capture some of the revenue generated by traffic and parking tickets.

And why not? Local authorities issue the tickets and pay for the enforcement. Shouldn't they be entitled to some of the revenue?

The answer from the state has always been "no." Two reasons are cited:

The first is that there is a good public policy reason to separate the collection of fines from the use of the money generated. This prevents the possibility of law enforcement being used as a revenue driver.

Traffic fines, after all, are supposed to be used to dissuade behavior, not to make money.

The second is that the state incurs considerable expense in its administration of traffic fines through the district court system. And this is true. Trials, although they involve city employees as well as state, do not come cheap.

So the counties have backed off and have asked only for that share of fines that are "unadjudicated" — that is, do not go through the state court system.

Still, the answer is "no."

In its latest effort to catch at least some of the traffic fine revenue, the Honolulu City Council has proposed a new system in which police could issue administrative fines in lieu of regular traffic tickets. Such administrative fines would be kept by the city and county and would not go on the driver's record.

The proposal is understandable, but flawed.

First, it would put police in the unenviable position of having to decide whether to issue a court ticket or an administrative fine. This kind of discretion, unwanted by the police, could lead to abuse. It could also lead to legal challenges on the basis of unequal treatment under the law.

Second, since the fines would not become part of a driver's record, insurance companies would be placed at a disadvantage. One of the ways companies discriminate actuarially between low-risk and high-risk drivers is through traffic tickets issued.

The counties deserve a share of the money collected through traffic enforcement. The better course is to push the Legislature to repay the counties for unadjudicated fines collected.

It is only fair and right.