Photo enforcement vans
lose support from city

The mayor's decision results from
concerns over public reaction

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

Motorists who speed on city streets will have to be caught the old-fashioned way, by police officers.

Mayor Jeremy Harris has informed the state Department of Transportation that the city no longer wishes to participate in the Photo Speed Enforcement Program.

"We informed the DOT (Monday) by letter that we do not support the placement of photo enforcement vans on city streets," said Carol Costa, city spokeswoman.

"The mayor really had a lot of concern over the public reaction over the vans."

Costa said the mayor has received reports that drivers may be causing safety hazards by bunching up to avoid having their front license plates photographed and driving extra slow past the vans.

"We have never supported the vans strictly for speeding purposes."

The law that established the Photo Enforcement Program allows for the placement of cameras on no more than 25 state or county highways at any one time in any county.

The state Department of Transportation identified 15 highway locations on Oahu in its contract with Affiliated Computer Systems, the vendor running the program. No city streets were named because the state had not received lists from the counties by the time the contract was signed.

"We'll just add additional state highways," said Marilyn Kali, state transportation spokeswoman.

The decision not to participate in the speed enforcement portion of the program was strictly Harris', said Costa.

City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura had already taken a stand against the vans on city roads.

"We've heard loud and clear from the people that they don't like this, speed enforcement with cameras. You just can't imagine the number of phone calls, e-mails and letters that we've gotten, and it's not even a city effort," Yoshimura said.

The city still plans to participate in the red light enforcement portion of the program. Engineers from both the state and the city have been trying to find a way to power the cameras without affecting the traffic signals.

Kali said engineers ran tests at two intersections last night and hope to have the red light enforcement cameras operating by the end of the month.