Photo tickets zoom No one is sure what will happen tomorrow when the Honolulu traffic courts hear the first challenges to the speeding citations handed out by the company operating the photo enforcement traffic cameras.
today in court
Accused speeders plan to
challenge the traffic camerasSome caught traveling 90 mph or faster
Maui, Big Island pass on traffic camsBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comAttorney Earle Partington will be there representing a client whose vehicle was ticketed for traveling 12 miles over the posted speed limit.
"I hope to convince the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that the company (issuing the citation) has an interest in the fines imposed, making affidavits suspect," Partington said.
Under the terms of its contract with the state Department of Transportation, camera operator Affiliated Computer Services receives $29.75 of every ticket paid.
Questioning the reliability of the evidence is one of the challenges the American Civil Liberties Union suggested to people who attended an informational briefing earlier this month. The other ACLU recommendation is to force the state to prove its case.
Partington, who received his own photo citation which he plans to challenge next month, is not sure how the court will handle these challenges but said he believes the judges will dismiss all citations issued for speeding 10 miles or less.
"These District Court judges want to be popular; they have ambitions to be appointed to higher courts. The last thing they want is to have someone rip them during their confirmation hearings down the road" for upholding a law that Partington says is flawed and will eventually be thrown out.
As many as 150 people could appear in court tomorrow to either challenge their citations or offer the judge explanations or extenuating circumstances to get their cases dropped or fines mitigated.
The hearing is a civil proceeding since speeding is a noncriminal traffic offense.
There were 420 photo citations issued in the first few days of the Photo Speeding Enforcement Program last month with tomorrow's court date. But 144 were paid by last Thursday, and written statements or declarations that someone other than the registered owner were mailed in for 126.
The Judiciary has assigned two judges to split the 276 cases whose fines were not paid.
For each case the judge will have the citation, the actual photograph produced by the photo enforcement camera and any written statements or declarations.
"We don't know yet if the picture is sufficient" to uphold the citation, said Jim Fulton, Honolulu city prosecutor spokesman.
The prosecutor will not be involved in tomorrow's civil hearings. However, prosecutors will have to prove the state's case should any of the cases reach trial.
According to statistics compiled by the Judiciary, only 7 percent of speeding tickets handed out by Honolulu police officers in the last five years were assigned to trial. But because prosecutors are given discretion to negotiate with defendants to get them to plead guilty in exchange for a lower penalty, few cases go through an actual trial.
"Every one is considered case by case," Fulton said, "We don't have the MasterCard theory of pleading out; there is no carte blanche ability to plead cases out."
Fulton said he does not believe prosecutors will be given discretion to negotiate on the photo citations. "Initially, probably not," he said.
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Some traffic camera operators photographed vehicles traveling 90 mph or more, according to state Department of Transportation Director Brian Minaai. Some speed demons caught
traveling 90 mph or fasterStar-Bulletin staff
And numerous vehicles were recorded traveling between 75 and 85 mph, Minaai said.
One camera recorded a vehicle traveling 93 mph in the Waianae-bound lanes of the Moanalua freeway near the Ala Kapuna overpass, according to a news release from the DOT. The speed limit there is 50.
The violation was recorded between 8 and 9:30 p.m. DOT did not release the date of the infraction.
Minaai said the photo citation program is intended to curtail reckless driving.
"Anyone who drives 85 or 100 percent over the posted speed limit is a threat to everyone else on the road," he said.
Other speeding violations reported by the DOT in the last six weeks:
>> Pali Highway, Kailua-bound: a vehicle traveling 90 mph where the speed limit is 45. The violation was recorded between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
>> H-1 freeway, Waianae-bound at the Makakilo overpass: a vehicle traveling 85 mph where the speed limit is 55.
The violation was recorded between 10 a.m. and noon.
>> During a three-hour daytime shift on the H-1 freeway, Waianae-bound at Waikele, a total of 170 violations were recorded.
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Photo traffic enforcement cameras are not welcome on Maui County streets, says Mayor James "Kimo" Apana. Maui, Big Island will be taking
a pass on catching speeders
with traffic camsBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com"Although they might be useable on Oahu, they are not necessary in Maui County," he said.
Apana said Oahu's multiple-lane highways make it difficult for police officers to pull over vehicles. But Maui's single-lane roads have plenty of room for officers to pull over vehicles so they can talk to motorists "Maui style" to explain why they were pulled over, he said. "Ticketing by camera is impersonal. We don't want to be an impersonal county."
Apana said he has written letters to the chairmen of the transportation committees in the state Legislature and has expressed his position to state Department of Transportation officials.
Apana is the second mayor to tell the state DOT that the cameras are not welcome on county roads.
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris told the state DOT he does not want the speeding enforcement vans on city roads but welcomes the red-light enforcement cameras at city intersections.
Photo enforcement is not even on the radar for Hawaii County.
"We're not looking at it right now; there is no plan to do it," said Janet Snyder, county spokeswoman.
Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka has not publicly taken a position on photo enforcement.