Highway racing
penalties advance

The motorist's death last August fuels
a Senate bill aimed at deterring dragsters

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By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

A proposed law now before the state Senate stiffens the penalties for those caught racing on the highways.

Excessive speeders and reckless drivers could have to forfeit their cars after three convictions.

"There's been more people trying to race cars on the highway," said Sen. Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu-Pearl City), chairman of the Senate Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations Committee.

"We just have to tighten up the law a little bit. Hopefully, that will deter them."

Police stepped up their efforts to curb highway racing after 58-year-old Elizabeth Kekoa was killed last August when the van she was riding in was struck from behind by an 18-year-old man.

The man, who was uninjured, apparently lost control of his car while racing on H-1 at almost 100 mph.

Since that accident, police have lobbied for stiffer penalties, including forfeiture of racers' vehicles, Kawamoto said.

Senate Bill 2337 passed Kawamoto's committee last week and will be heard on Thursday by the Judiciary Committee.

The current law carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to 30 days in jail for reckless driving of a vehicle.

The amended law would increase the penalties to include forfeiture of a vehicle after three offenses. In addition, the penalties for street racing would increase with each conviction within five years: a three-month license suspension, a $500 fine and up to 30 days in prison for the first offense; a one-year license suspension, a $1,000 fine and up to 60 days in prison for the second offense; and a three-year license suspension, a $1,500 fine and up to six months in prison for the third offense.

George Nitta, owner of Nitta's Auto repair, thinks that increasing the penalties will only encourage racers to try harder to evade police, since they would be arrested regardless of whether they tried to escape.

"Think about it. Would you just stop on the side and go to jail?" he asked. "You'd try to speed away and try to get away."

"If you try to run away, there's a chance you might get away, but you might kill innocent people in the process," he said.

Nitta said that instead of working against street racers by raising the penalties, the community should give them another outlet, like the team races he has proposed at the Hawaii Raceway Park, which would allow every participant 16 passes per race, with the points tallied up at the end.

University of Hawaii psychology professor Leon James, who co-authored "Road Rage and Aggressive Driving" with fellow UH professor Diane Nahl, said that the principle behind raising the penalties was sound but would only deter speed racers if coupled with education. He suggests that driver's education classes include a component on what drivers' thoughts and emotions are when they are behind the wheel.

"It's unfair to raise the penalty on people who are unable to follow the law because of their training," he said. "It's not that these young people are criminals or idiots.

"They are products of how they are raised by parents who drive very aggressively and television programs that show that driving aggressively is good and fun and you can get away with it."

The problem is cultural, not individual, he argues.

"I think it's unrealistic to expect that it's going to have a bigger effect just because the penalty gets harsher and harsher."

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