STAND. COM. REP. NO.  168-10

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2010

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2263

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 2263 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to amend the statutory requirements for provisional driver's licenses for persons between ages 16 and 18 to allow a provisional licensee to obtain a driver's license at the age of 18 without meeting the six month requirement for maintaining a provisional license.

 

     The Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu, and numerous concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.

 

     Research, studies, and statistics show that young, novice drivers have an extremely high crash risk with factors such as inexperience and immaturity being major contributors.  This is especially true at night.  As a result, Act 72, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, was enacted to address this issue by developing a provisional driver's license program.  According to DOT, since the program's inception, a significant decrease in the number of crashes involving 16 year olds (27 percent) and 17 year olds (14 percent) has occurred.  More importantly, there has been a 60 percent reduction in the number of deaths among teens as a result of traffic collisions.

 

     However, your Committee finds that, among other things, the provisional license program requires that a provisional licensee hold the license for a minimum of six months before being eligible for a driver's license.  This has created a problem for individuals who are nearing their 18th birthday and have a provisional license.  As currently written, individuals in the provisional license program who turn 18 prior to fulfilling the six month requirement are not eligible for a driver's license until the requirement is met, even though they have taken all the requisite driver education courses.  However, 18 year old individuals who did not enter the provisional licensing program are eligible to obtain a driver's license upon their 18th birthday.  This measure addresses this issue.

 

     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. 2263 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