Posted on: Monday, April 25, 2005

EDITORIAL
Public needs to know traffic danger zones

Keeping the public informed about dangers on transportation corridors should rank high among the concerns of state government. But our officials, unfortunately, haven't taken that duty very seriously.

In a series of stories, The Advertiser identified some areas on O'ahu most plagued by traffic accidents, data that was provided by the Honolulu Police Department. Writer Mike Leidemann had worked for months, hoping to produce a comprehensive report based on statistics from all the Islands, but the state Department of Transportation said it could not release its data in a usable, electronic form.

The reasons cited are technological — the state did not have the software to segregate out private, identifying information; and legal — the fear of lawsuits assigning liability for traffic deaths and injuries to the state.

The DOT consultant's contract promises "easy extraction" of select data entries, so that barrier could be reasonably surmounted.

Liability concerns seem more credible, but the state already has some protection in a law that precludes admitting such data in civil cases. Although officials say this prohibition has been ignored in court, the law at least provides a means to reduce the risk.

Still, the public's right to know remains paramount. North Carolina and other states that provide broad access to traffic data have weighed the competing interests and opted in favor of keeping the public informed.

The Office of Information Practices has ruled that the data is indeed public property, and transportation officials recently directed The Advertiser to work with its computer experts on a solution.

Taxpayers deserve access to information that can guide all of us toward greater safety on our roads. The state must provide solutions to make that happen quickly and efficiently.