STAND. COM. REP. NO. 40-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2081

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 2081 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PASSENGER RESTRAINT DEVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to increase traffic safety by repealing a provision in Hawaii's seat belt law that exempts passengers from the seat belt requirement when the number of passengers exceeds the amount of seat belt assemblies in the vehicle.

The Honolulu Police Department and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company testified in support of this measure. The state Department of Transportation supported the intent of the measure.

Recent motor vehicle crashes in Hawaii in which individuals who were not wearing passenger restraints were ejected from the vehicle and received fatal injuries have shown the need for an end to seat belt law exemptions. Your Committee finds that data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that adults wearing a seatbelt are 45 percent more likely to survive a serious motor vehicle crash than if they were unrestrained. The numbers for infants and toddlers are even higher with estimates of 71 percent for properly restrained infants and 54 percent for toddlers.

Although your Committee understands that large families may experience hardships due to the inability to accommodate more seat belt assemblies in some vehicles, your Committee also finds that this measure is in the best interest of the health and safety of the public.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2081 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,

 

____________________________

JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair