2 traffic camera vans The state said its traffic cameras will be back snapping photos of speeding vehicles again tonight, after a four-day hiatus brought on by court challenges to the program's first tickets.
resume duty tonight
A judge dismisses citations for
speeds less than 10 mph
over posted limitsBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comMeanwhile, in court yesterday, Honolulu District Judge Russel Nagata ruled van camera operators should not issue citations to motorists going less than 10 mph over the speed limit because the practice conflicts with standard Honolulu Police Department practice.
"The court has presided over numerous speeding trials, and HPD officers have consistently testified that they generally will not issue citations for going less than 10 miles over the speed limit," said Nagata, who dismissed 15 tickets given to drivers going 9 mph over the limit.
He said he cannot in good conscience subject the state to the expense of trials for such cases.
The HPD would not confirm or deny that its officers only ticket drivers speeding 10 or more miles per hour over the speed limit.
"The law allows our officers to cite anyone who exceeds the speed limit. Our officers will look at all of the circumstances when deciding when to cite someone or when to give a person a warning," said Jean Motoyama, HPD spokeswoman.
The DOT has never stated the speeding threshold for receiving a photo citation. However, citations have been mailed for vehicles traveling as low as 6 mph over the posted speed limit.
Brian Minaai, state Department of Transportation director, said Nagata's actions will not result in any changes in the way his department runs the photo enforcement program.
"I'm not sure if that's one judge's decision or if that's the policy of the Judiciary, although I will say that going 9 miles over in a school zone may be an unsafe situation. That's why we have speed limits. This may be just Judge Nagata that proposes this, and other judges may do otherwise," he said.
Minaai said that only two of the four speeding enforcement camera vans will be back on the road, starting at 10 p.m. today, because the other two have mechanical problems.
The program is being resumed after the DOT won Judiciary approval of a new citation form yesterday to correct a deficiency in the citations already mailed out to thousands of Oahu motorists.
The state suspended the program Tuesday after Nagata and fellow District Judge Leslie Ann Hayashi threw out 85 contested citations. They held the citations were invalid because the forms lacked a required statement about the certification of the program's laser operators.
The revised citation has space for the camera operator's signature and a statement from his employer that he is trained and certified in the use of the laser camera.
In Nagata's court yesterday, motorists who went with citations for traveling 9 mph over the posted speed limit were not required to say anything to have their tickets dismissed.
"I just said hello, and he said it was 9 miles per hour, dismissed," said Geraldine Debenedetti.
Attorney Michael Kam was unsuccessful in trying to persuade Nagata to dismiss the citations of two of his clients because the signature of the camera operator does not appear on the citation or any form submitted by the state DOT to supplement the citations. Kam said he will raise the issue again in trial.
"It's a whole new ball game at trial," Kam said.
Attorney Matthew Chung argued that the citation does not indicate which camera photographed his car allegedly traveling 10 mph over the posted speed limit on Pali Highway. So the state will not be able to demonstrate that the camera was operating properly.
Nagata refused to dismiss his citation. Chung said he will raise the issue in trial.
Nagata also refused to dismiss the ticket of Francis Burke, who said he exceeded the speed limit to pass a slow-moving vehicle, then quickly slowed down to the posted speed limit. He also called the section of Likelike Highway where he was cited for traveling 12 mph over the 35 mph speed limit a speed trap.
Burke said a laser camera tagged him on the 100-yard downhill stretch of road between the Honolulu exit of the Wilson Tunnel and the sign that raises the speed limit to 45 mph.
"I think it was not fair, devious and mercenary," he said.
The state DOT no longer allows the camera vans on that stretch of Likelike Highway because of similar complaints.
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone and the Associated Press contributed to this report.