Question: When a vehicle runs a red light and the license plate number is recorded on camera, does the system also check if the registration is current?
Answer: The Red-Light Safety Camera system checks the vehicle’s registration so that a ticket can be mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle that ran the red light, but it doesn’t generate a citation for an expired registration at this point — only for running a red light and, in the coming months, for speeding.
A bill that would have authorized the use of cameras to enforce a broad swath of traffic infractions was introduced in the Legislature this session but has been gutted (more on that later).
To answer another reader’s question, yes, once automated speeding enforcement begins, the registered owner of a vehicle caught by a traffic camera speeding through a red light would receive two tickets in the mail, one for violating Hawaii Revised Statutes section 291C-32(c) and one for violating 291C-108, said Shelly Kunishige, spokesperson for Hawaii’s Department of Transportation.
Those laws apply to traffic signals and speed, respectively, in areas with automated enforcement.
Ten Honolulu intersections have traffic cameras enforcing red-light running, and automated enforcement against speeding is expected to begin at those same intersections within a month or so; the DOT has not announced the exact date. For a list of the intersections and the history of the program, go to 808ne.ws/ 41hCGnp.
Meanwhile, House Bill 334, which as originally written would have authorized the state Department of Law Enforcement to “establish and implement any traffic camera to impose monetary liability on the registered owner of a motor vehicle for failure to comply with traffic related laws” has been stripped down to include just one of its original elements: making the knowing destruction of a traffic camera a class C felony.
Originally, the bill would have allowed DLE to mail a citation “for any violation of traffic laws that do not mandate the physical arrest of violators within 10 calendar days from the time of the incident for motor vehicles disregarding traffic laws.”
Civil libertarians opposed the bill, including ACLU Hawaii, which submitted testimony saying that rather than being expanded, “the use of traffic camera systems should be halted or delayed until the due process and privacy issues they raise have been properly settled.” One objection: The ticket goes to the vehicle’s registered owner, regardless of who was driving the car, violating “the bedrock American principle that the accused be considered innocent until proven guilty.”
Read the bill, committee report and testimony at 808ne.ws/3X29U7v.
Sewer fees
The public is welcome at two more town hall meetings to discuss proposed sewer-fees increases. “These meetings aim to inform residents about the rationale behind the fee adjustments, the extent of the increases, a proposed customer assistance program, and to provide an opportunity for questions and feedback,” according to a news release from Honolulu’s Department of Environmental Services. One meeting is set for Tuesday at Manoa Valley District Park from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the old gym. The other is Thursday at Ewa Mahiko District Park, 5:30 to 7 p.m. in DP Multi-Purpose Room 1.
ENV wants to increase sewer fees annually for the next 10 years, starting July 1. For details on the plan, see www8.honolulu.gov/env/sewer-fee-rates/.
Mahalo
So many complain about government workers, but I’ve gotten help over the years, especially from people working in agencies that assist senior citizens. I probably didn’t say “thank you” enough at the time, so let me say it now. — A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
