Report Title:

Crosswalks for Kamehameha Highway; Traffic Study; Appropriation

Description:

Authorizes the Department of Transportation to conduct a traffic study to determine which bus stops along Kamehameha Highway between Kaneohe and Kawela should have crosswalks installed nearby. Appropriates funds to implement the recommendations.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1641

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO TRAFFIC.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii's traffic problem is bad and growing worse, and therefore the State has made traffic management programs a priority. Programs such as park and rides, flex time, and incentives for employers who subsidize bus passes are designed to encourage the use of the bus and other mass transit alternatives.

The legislature further finds that individuals who ride the bus are at risk when they are walking to or from the bus stop. On average, two pedestrians are killed each month, and two pedestrians are injured each day, after being hit by a car in Hawaii. This amounts to three hundred forty-five pedestrian fatalities and nine thousand four hundred sixty-four pedestrian injuries during the fourteen-year period from 1986 to 1999.

Eighty-six per cent of the fatalities occurred while the pedestrian was trying to cross the street. Thirty-five per cent of those hit were in a crosswalk.

Hawaii's drivers are often in a hurry and may not want to yield the right-of-way to anyone, especially pedestrians. According to a recent department of transportation (DOT) survey, thirty-one per cent of the pedestrians reported that they were hit or almost hit by a driver while trying to cross the street.

Jaywalking is also a major contributor to pedestrian fatalities. Eighty-eight per cent of those polled in the DOT survey felt that jaywalking is dangerous, and sixty per cent felt there should be a state law against it.

Everyone is a pedestrian at some time each day, walking from home or the park and ride, to the bus stop, to their office or school, or while shopping, banking, or going for a walk. Walking is an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation that enhances both personal and social well-being. The investment in automobile infrastructure has brought us to the point where travel by non-motorized means is often difficult and unsafe, and the needs and safety of pedestrians are apparently ignored.

The purpose of this Act is to authorize the department of transportation to conduct a traffic study of Kamehameha highway between Kaneohe and Kawela, to determine which bus stops should have crosswalks installed nearby, and to appropriate funds for implementation of the recommendations of the study.

SECTION 2. The department of transportation shall conduct a study to examine Kamehameha highway between Kaneohe and Kawela, to determine which bus stops should have crosswalks installed nearby for the protection of pedestrians and drivers. The study shall also examine the proposed costs of such measures. The study, including recommendations and the actions taken to implement the recommendations, shall be submitted to the legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2004.

SECTION 3. The department of transportation shall implement the recommendations of the traffic study upon the study's completion.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          , or so much thereof as may be necessary, for fiscal year 2003-2004, to effectuate the purpose of this Act.

SECTION 5. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of transportation for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.

INTRODUCED BY:

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