STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1688

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 357

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 357, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAFFIC SAFETY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to increase the safety of pedestrians, especially those who are elderly.

 

     Specifically, the bill appropriates funds to the City and County of Honolulu to establish a two-year pilot project to test crosswalk safety enhancements and programs.

 

     The Department of Transportation and the Hawaii Bicycling League submitted comments on the bill.

 

     Your Committee finds that approximately five hundred sixty pedestrian injuries occur annually, most of them involving an elderly person.  Currently, many pedestrian signals require pedestrians to cross streets very quickly and the elderly are not able to cross various intersections and crosswalks before the signal changes.

 

     Your Committee has amended the bill by replacing its contents with House Bill No. 806, S.D. 1.

 

     The amended measure appropriates funds to the Department of Transportation to:

 

     (1)  Work with the counties and nonprofit organizations to take immediate action steps to make crosswalks and roadways safer;

 

     (2)  Conduct a study to identify intersections at which the time for crossing is too short for elderly pedestrians; and

 

     (3)  Develop additional plans to make crosswalks and roadways safer.

 

     Your Committee finds that appropriating funds and taking immediate steps and planning future steps to increase safety at crosswalks, as well as studying which intersections and crosswalks pose great risks for crossing by pedestrians, are important actions that should be undertaken as quickly as possible in light of the increasing numbers of fatal accidents involving pedestrians.

 

     The amounts appropriated by this measure, have been changed to $1 to facilitate further discussion of the matter.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 357, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 357, H.D. 2, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair