Following a successful pilot period, automated speed-limit enforcement devices at 10 Honolulu intersections are expected to go live with a warning period beginning at the end of February or early March. Piggybacking on existing red-light safety camera system (RLSC) hardware, the program is designed to disincentivize speeding and reduce dangerous road collisions. And, buoyed by promising results from Oahu, the state doesn’t want the project to end there.

House Bill 697, introduced by state Reps. Darius Kila, Rachele Lamosao, Lisa Marten and Gregg Takayama, seeks funds for a state Department of Transportation (DOT) effort to the expand the number of RLSCs to 187 statewide over an eight-year period. Those automated safety devices would be installed at highly trafficked intersections — perhaps multiple cameras per site, depending on driver habits — and monitored not only by county police departments, but DOT and Department of Law Enforcement staff.

An initial version of HB 697 called for a $10 million investment split evenly between fiscal 2025 and 2026, which DOT estimates will cover an 8-year installation period and a 10-year operating contract with an outside vendor. A more recent revision removes the figure as under consideration.

Less speeding and red-light running on Hawaii streets is a noble endeavor, one that could save the lives of drivers and pedestrians alike. And with 102 deaths across 2024, up from 93 fatalities a year earlier, action must be taken. But are automated cameras the answer, and if so, how many are needed to be effective? Where will the hardware be sited? Will communities have an opportunity to lobby for installation at trouble spots? Where does this program end? All valid questions without adequate answers yet.

HB 697 is a spartan bill whose language merely details an expansion of the program and addition of new “reviewing entities,” or personnel certified to review photographic evidence to mark violations. Nothing in the legislation, nor its first two pieces of positive testimony from the Department of the Attorney General and DOT, speaks to camera siting methodology, installation, activation or operation.

A DOT spokesperson told the Star-Advertiser that officials landed on the 187-camera figure by sifting and sorting data from 2022’s red light camera study. Metrics considered on a per-intersection basis include crash types, traffic volume and posted speed limits. In Honolulu, intersections determined to be ripe for camera installation are those that saw nine crashes due to safety device transgression over the course of a year, while all other islands are set at five crashes per year.

Details like these need to be made public to foster informed discussion and testimony as HB 697 wends its way through the Legislature — and taxpayers’ scrutiny.

Another consideration worthy of heavy weighting in DOT’s calculus: school zones. Plus, this curious comparison that needs explaining: The $10 million outlay for 187 RLSCs, their operation and engineering studies for future expansion appears extremely low relative to the $5 million that went toward Honolulu’s first 10 automated speed enforcement sites, which added speed-sensing equipment and supporting infrastructure to existing cameras.

To be sure, a reduction in traffic scofflaws would be a positive development for Hawaii, but DOT has little goodwill to burn, thanks to 2002’s “van cam” fiasco. Skepticism from failed attempts to rein in transgressors means the state must clear a much higher bar to enact change. A large part of that effort relies on public education, and on the proposed RLSC expansion, there has been none.

Those opposed to a vast expansion of automated traffic nannies must be cognizant of Hawaii’s road rules, and conduct a serious, sober examination of RLSC’s upsides. However, there can be no assessment without data. DOT and legislators must clearly communicate information about the program and its benefits, as well as their plans moving forward.