HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

225

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU TO CONDUCT A STUDY ON LENGTHENING YELLOW LIGHTS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF RUNNING RED LIGHTS.

 

WHEREAS, in 1999, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimated that drivers who run red lights are responsible for 260,000 automotive crashes each year with approximately 750 crashes resulting in fatalities; and

WHEREAS, in the same study, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that motorists are more likely to be injured in crashes involving red light running than in other type of crashes; and

WHEREAS, because red light camera enforcement assumes the violator is guilty until proven innocent, much like the photo van traffic enforcement program scrapped by the State two years ago, there are constitutional issues that need to be addressed before the implementation of such a program; and

WHEREAS, numerous jurisdictions, including Alaska, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and others have experienced legal problems with red light camera enforcement programs; and

WHEREAS, the point of enforcing red light violations should be pedestrian and traffic safety; and

WHEREAS, studies have shown that increasing the time of yellow lights significantly decreases the number of red light running violations; and

WHEREAS, one example of success is that increasing the yellow light length from 4 to 5.5 seconds at the intersection of US 50 and Fair Ridge Drive in Fairfax County on March 26, 2001 decreased citations at this camera-enforced location from an average of 52.1 violations a day to less than 2 a day, or a 96% reduction in violations; and

WHEREAS, one method for documenting reductions in red light violation from increasing the yellow light length could be ascertained by increasing the yellow light length in small amounts and letting the camera document the results of doing so; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the Senate concurring, that the legislature requests the Department of Transportation and the City and County of Honolulu to do a study on lengthening yellow lights in order to address the problem of running red lights prior to the implementation of any permanent or temporary fixed red light or van camera program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Department of Transportation, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, and each member of the Honolulu City Council.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Yellow light lengthening; study