Speed kills more often on Hawai'i's highways
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
When Lowell Porter, head of the Washington State Highway Patrol, talks to groups about traffic deaths, he starts with a little demonstration.
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"First, raise your hand if you never drink and drive," he says. Every hand in the room shoots up.
A display shows motorists their speed as they drive mauka on Pali Highway. Speeding is now among the leading causes of traffic fatalities.
"Next, keep your hand up if you always use seat belts." Almost every hand stays in the air.
"Now, how many people never speed?" he asks. Suddenly, there isn't one hand still showing.
Right there, Porter says, is the problem: Most people don't think speeding is a serious issue, even though it's quickly rivaling drunken driving as the No. 1 cause of fatal traffic accidents in the country.
"We need to change that," Porter said.
In Hawai'i and around the country there is growing awareness that changing public attitudes about speeding might be the biggest factor in reducing the more than 42,000 people who are killed on highways every year.
There's little consensus, though, on how to do that, save for one thing: More enforcement of existing speeding laws.
"In the past, the emphasis has always been on booze and belts," — safety speak for enforcing laws on drunken driving and seat belt use — said Gordon Hong, head of the state Transportation Department's Safe Communities Program.
"Now, we have to give the same type of attention to speeding," Hong said.
In Hawai'i, speed is usually a contributing factor in about one-third of the fatal accidents annually, officials said. Last year, though, the number of speeding related fatalities jumped sharply, up almost 52 percent of all highway deaths.
In response, police in all counties have stepped up speed enforcement.
New high in citations
Honolulu police, for instance, issued a record 37,000 speeding citations last year and a total of 65,195 between January 2002 and March 2004.
Even so, some people don't notice any slowing on Hawai'i roads.
"I see them speeding on the highway and I see them swerving around the corners in my neighborhood. Speeding is definitely still a problem," said Manoa resident Laura May. "It's more than is necessary and more than is courteous."
Many Hawai'i drivers admit they sometimes exceed the speed limit, but don't think they're being dangerous. A University of Hawai'i survey earlier this year found that 38 percent of the respondents admitted often driving 10 mph or more over the speed limit.
"I don't care what anybody says. If you're late for work, sometimes you're going to speed a little," said construction worker Louis Lee, 37. "The only way to stop it entirely is to put some kind of regulator on the car."
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Addressing the problem takes increased enforcement that's highly visible, especially when manpower and resources are limited, according to police and safety officials in Hawai'i and around the country, where stepped-up efforts are taking many forms:
Four people died in a crash in December 2003 on Farrington Highway in Makaha. High speed was cited.
• In California, the highway patrol has implemented highly publicized "zero tolerance" enforcement days to call attention to compliance with speed laws.
• In New Jersey, the state opened a hotline in which motorists can dial #77 on their cell phones to report excessive speeding. The line receives an average of 20,000 calls per month.
• In Oregon and Louisiana, state troopers routinely pick a day to concentrate all their efforts on speed enforcement, saturating areas where the most accidents have occurred.
• In Pennsylvania, police often put two, three or even four speed traps in a row to increase driver awareness of enforcement activities.
• In Maryland, officials focus on four one-week enforcement waves, resulting in more than 105,000 citations and warnings in that time.
"Enforcement is really important, no question," said Lt. Jeffrey Tanouye, who heads the Maui County Police traffic unit, which like other police departments receives state grants to pay overtime costs for increased enforcement efforts.
"We use the money to pay for overtime costs, which is great, but you've got to make sure you've got enough officers to do the work," Tanouye said. "We need more staff. If you get a million dollars and can't spend it, it doesn't help."
The department also uses unmarked cars, saturation patrols in problem areas, electronic speed indicators and educational campaigns to try to reduce speeding.
'Van Cam' experiment
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Somehow, though, the message isn't taking in the same ways it has with other safety campaigns.
Three people died in an April 2004 accident in the Wilson Tunnel on Likelike Highway. Speeding was a factor.
"People will buckle up or hand the keys to someone when they've been drinking, but speeding is totally different," Tanouye said. "You may pull someone over going 90 miles per hour, and they'll say they didn't know they were going that fast. When people think they need to be some place at a certain time, it's an entirely different situation."
Hawai'i's most dramatic attempt to slow traffic — through remote, photo enforcement of speed limits — was both a great success and a colossal failure, officials say.
The privately run "van cams" slowed traffic dramatically on state roadways during their brief four-month run in early 2002. But they also created a public furor that quickly forced politicians and the courts to pull back from the program, making it politically unlikely that photo speed enforcement will be reintroduced any time soon.
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That leaves some local officials at a loss.
Five people were killed in a March 2003 crash on Kamehameha Highway on the outskirts of Hale'iwa. Police investigators said high speed played a role in that accident.
Many cities and states just don't know what to do, said Kathryn Swanson, head of the national Governors Highway Safety Council. "They're looking to the federal government to set some sort of focus that could really help us out, the way they did with seat belts and drunken driving," she said.
Until such a campaign materializes, the emphasis will remain on local speed enforcement, Swanson said.
"You can't get individuals to pay attention without increased law enforcement. Nothing is more effective than a traffic ticket," added Brian O'Neill, head of the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.
Lee, the construction worker, said that helps only a little.
"Police are so busy they can't be watching everywhere. Even if you catch them in one place, they're still going to speed. You give them a ticket, and the next thing you know they take off doing 80 miles per hour again."
Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.
