Question: Auwe! After exiting Kalanianaole Highway I was turning left onto Kilauea Avenue near Kahala Mall. I had the light, and there was a man standing on the median, seemingly waiting until it was his time to cross. Suddenly and without warning, he jumped out into the street! I nearly hit him but swerved in time. Luckily, there was no car in the lane next to me, or I would have hit that car when I swerved. I was shaken up but the man just kept walking. Later, I was thinking about the bill to legalize jaywalking. Did that go through?
Answer: No. Versions of Senate Bill 2630 made it through the state Senate and House this legislative session, but the two sides disagreed on amendments and didn’t resolve the differences on a final measure. SB 2630, SD 1, HD 2 would have allowed jaywalking “unless a reasonably careful pedestrian would determine that acting contrary to (the statewide traffic code) would result in a collision with a moving vehicle or result in a moving vehicle slowing or stopping in any fashion.”
It’s hard to see how a “reasonably careful pedestrian” would have considered it safe to step off the curb at the moment you described, but opponents of the bill did cite the discretion it gave pedestrians as a fatal flaw.
In its written testimony the state Department of Law Enforcement said the bill amounted to a free pass for jaywalking because offenses would be “virtually impossible to enforce or prosecute” as pedestrians could claim it was safe to cross and enforcement officers would have “to determine the thoughts and evaluate the physical capabilities of the subject in relation to the situation in which they have placed themselves.” The Honolulu Police Department and the state Department of Transportation also opposed the measure.
The bill’s proponents, such as the Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, said in written testimony that the “Freedom to Walk” bill was needed because jaywalking laws arose to deflect blame from motorists when collisions occur and have not significantly improved pedestrian safety; are disproportionately enforced against black and brown people; and reduce the focus on the importance of walkable cities. The bill would not have changed the civil or criminal liability for drivers who collide with pedestrians, the center said.
Q: Are any Oahu public libraries open seven days a week?
A: No, all are closed either one or two days a week, according to the branch hours posted on the website of the Hawaii State Public Library System. Go to librarieshawaii.org for more information.
Buckle up
The national “Click It or Ticket” campaign will run from Monday to June 2, with high-visibility enforcement of Hawaii’s seat belt law, which requires that everyone in a moving vehicle “be properly restrained regardless of where they are sitting,” the state Department of Transportation said in a news release.
“In 2023, 42 percent (14 of the 36) vehicle occupants that died in traffic collisions in Hawaii were not wearing seat belts. So far in 2024 (January 1 to May 9), seven of the 14 motor vehicle occupants killed in crashes were reported as not wearing their seat belt,” it said.
During the campaign, the DOT will work with state and county law enforcement officers to ensure that drivers and passengers get the message that buckling up properly saves lives.
“Last year, law enforcement agencies in all four counties issued 9,310 seat belt citations and 992 child safety seat citations. This year, from January through the end of April, 2,501 seat belt citations and 196 child safety seat citations have been issued. Hawaii’s law enforcement agencies will continue to step up enforcement activities during the Click It or Ticket mobilization period for the safety of all vehicle occupants,” the news release said.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
