FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM The red light violator traffic cam shown above, located at the intersection of Punchbowl and Vineyard were installed but are not in operation yet. These cameras differ from the speed cameras already in place, which will begin issuing tickets Wednesday.

Government speeders
are a conundrum

Isle agencies unsure what to do
when their own get caught

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

Beginning Wednesday, the state's new Photo Enforcement Program will start issuing traffic tickets, but many government agencies still have not figured out how they will react if their own employees are caught speeding in government vehicles and refuse to pay the fine.

"We should be looking into it and we will be looking into it," said James Halvorson, state Department of Human Resources Development deputy director.

According to the state law that established the program, the registered owner of the vehicle is responsible for the citation. If someone else was driving the vehicle, the owner can free himself from responsibility for the citation by submitting a declaration with the name, address, driver's license number and signature of the driver.

The vendor operating the program for the state Department of Transportation has been issuing warning citations since Dec. 3. A total of 4,512 warning citations have gone out to the registered owners of speeding vehicles caught on camera through Dec. 26.

State and county agencies that own fleets of vehicles, including the Honolulu Police Department, have been trying to establish procedures for holding employees responsible for the citations.

The state Department of Accounting & General Services has even issued a memo reminding all departments to keep accurate records to be able to identify drivers of vehicles caught speeding on camera.

However none of the agencies know what it will do if an employee refuses to claim responsibility for a citation until it happens. The agencies are also waiting to hear what public employee unions have to say about the program. So far the unions have not publicly taken a position on the state and city's plans to hold employees responsible.

Car rental companies, meanwhile, will handle the speeding citations the same way they take care of parking violations that their customers fail to bring to their attention.

"We don't see half of them. The customer throws them away," said Chris Takahada, Dollar Rent A Car fleet staff assistant.

Car rental companies pay $10 for each parking ticket then charge it to the customer's credit card. The rate for speeding and any other moving violation is $70.

Everyone else will be charged $27 per speeding citation plus $5 for every mile per hour over the speed limit.