An incident on the H-1 freeway Aug. 1 that left three people with stab wounds and closed several lanes for five hours has prompted a Honolulu city councilman to introduce a bill to discourage road rage.
Councilman Joey Manahan said Monday he’s hoping Bill 50 will lead to stiffer penalties, especially for multiple offenders of road-rage incidents.
The bill, introduced Aug. 12, is expected to get its first airing before the City Council on Sept. 7.
State law already addresses reckless driving, Manahan said, but he’s hoping some additional prohibitions can be included at the city level.
If not, he will lobby the state Legislature for stiffer penalties, and his bill will at least raise public awareness about what penalties could be faced by motorists found guilty of creating a road-rage incident, he said.
Bill 50 creates a new section in the Honolulu Traffic Code that would prohibit motorists from a slew of actions, including:
>> Brandishing a weapon or other object capable of inflicting death or serious bodily injury.
>> Exiting a vehicle to confront another driver.
>> Repeatedly sounding a car horn, flashing headlights or either accelerating or braking suddenly.
>> Intentionally cutting off another motorist or preventing a driver from merging into a lane.
>> Swerving either to prevent another motorist from passing or to alarm another motorist.
>> Forcing or attempting to force another vehicle off the road.
>> Positioning or stopping a vehicle to prevent another from moving forward.
>> Slowing in front of another vehicle to prevent it from moving at a prevailing speed.
The bill goes on to prohibit passengers from using offensive language or threatening gestures against a person in another vehicle, as well as throwing projectiles or shouting obscenities or threats.
No penalties are specified.
But a state statute regulating bad driving behavior defines a reckless driver as anyone who “operates any vehicle or rides any animal recklessly in disregard of the safety of persons or property.” It lists penalties of up to $1,000, up to 30 days in jail or both.
“What I really want to do is look at second- or third-time offenses for road rage and see if we can (create) more severe penalties for second- and third-time offenders,” Manahan said, noting that the state law is silent on multiple offenses.
Stricter penalties for repeat offenders will make potential road-rage motorists think twice, he said.
Manahan said he was surprised to see news reports showing that Ewa Beach resident Mark Char, the suspect charged in the freeway triple-stabbing incident earlier this month, was already facing trial on a road-rage charge involving an earlier, unrelated incident.
Char was charged with second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault and third-degree assault for allegedly ramming a car containing two men and then pepper-spraying and stabbing them and a man who came to their aid.
Perhaps road-rage offenders should not be allowed to drive for a while, Manahan said. “I was wondering why (Char) was still able to drive.”
A study by the Auto Insurance Center, which describes itself as “an industry-driven news and information site,” earlier this year proclaimed Hawaii as the state that “feels the most road rage.” Using
Instagram posts tagged #roadrage as its measure, the study calculated that from June 2013 to April 2016, there were 5,872 posts per 100,000 motorists. California, which ranked second, had only 3,506 posts per 100,000 motorists.
Among cities, however, Honolulu ranked 22nd in the nation using the same formula.
