DOT plans to reload The state Department of Transportation hopes to win approval of a revised photo speeding citation form by today, which means the traffic camera vans could be back on the road tomorrow.
cameras Saturday
The state awaits legal approval of
revised photo citation forms
before hitting the roadBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com"Right now our attorney general is reviewing it before the (administrative) judges make their final approval on it," said Brian Minaai, state Department of Transportation director.
The state pulled the vans off the road and suspended the Photo Traffic Enforcement Program on Tuesday after 85 citations were dismissed in traffic court because of a "flaw" in the current citation forms.
A traffic court judge approved a remedy for the current citations yesterday, but Minaai said he is waiting for administrative approval of the revised citation before resuming the program.
Honolulu District Court Judge Leslie Ann Hayashi accepted a blanket affidavit from the state DOT certifying the operators of the laser cameras.
She dismissed 50 citations on Tuesday because the current forms do not indicate whether the laser camera operator is certified in the proper use of the device as required by state law.
"We were successful in providing the affidavit that so certified the operator. The technical glitch has been addressed," Minaai said.
However, Hayashi dismissed 33 more citations yesterday after misinterpreting the state law that established the photo enforcement program. The error was brought to her attention after the hearing, but because Hayashi dismissed the cases "with prejudice," the citations cannot be reinstated.
"Our confirmation is that the judges now realized that there was incorrect citations to the law made, and on a go-forward basis, that will not occur from tomorrow on," Minaai said.
Hayashi dismissed the cases because she was shown an early version of the law that required that vehicles be within 150 feet of the cameras when the violation is recorded. She was not aware that the provision was repealed in a later version of the law.
Attorney Patrick McPherson argued that his client's citation should be dismissed because his vehicle was photographed from beyond 150 feet. Thirty-two people who followed made the same argument and got their citations dismissed as well.
Bob Belcher was ticketed for driving 44 miles per hour on the Likelike Highway exiting the Wilson Tunnel. His citation indicated that the laser camera operator photographed his vehicle from 151 feet away.
"I'm thankful the guy took it then and not a little later. A quarter of a second later, it would have cost me a hundred bucks," Belcher said.
Attorney Michael Kam, who was in court representing a client, presented Hayashi a copy of Act 240 of the 2000 Session Laws of Hawaii, the law that established the photo enforcement program.
"What happens in acts under session laws is they place brackets around sections that are being repealed. I didn't notice the brackets; the judge didn't notice it. I was so embarrassed, I apologized to the judge profusely afterward," Kam said.
Gov. Cayetano restated his support for the traffic enforcement program following the dismissals.
"But when you have one error after another, it's very disconcerting. The Judiciary has contributed to this comedy of errors," he said before the judge's error was discovered.
Only one person who went to traffic court yesterday did not win dismissal of his citation.
His vehicle was photographed within 150 feet of the laser camera.
Star-Bulletin reporter Rosemarie Bernardo contributed to this report.