Van-cam repeal hurts
HOV lane tickets

Citations can only be sent by
certified mail, increasing expenses

---

By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

When state lawmakers repealed the photo traffic enforcement law this year, they also made it more expensive for police to cite motorists for unauthorized use of high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

Police have not been aggressively enforcing the HOV lane because in many areas there is no shoulder on the roadway to pull vehicles over, said Maj. Robert Prasser of the Honolulu Police Department's Traffic Division.

"Our primary goal is to keep traffic moving. We don't want to be part of the problem," he said.

Pulling over vehicles in HOV lanes also creates officer safety and public safety problems. So police began seriously looking at issuing citations by certified mail, which is allowed under state law.

The photo traffic enforcement law allowed the operator of the van cameras to issue speeding citations by regular mail.

Police were planning to rely on the law to issue HOV citations by regular mail. However, the photo enforcement law was repealed April 30.

"With the van cam law repealed, it would again cost us approximately $6 a ticket to do those mail-outs, plus the officer's time plus writing out the ticket," Prasser said.

"We wouldn't stop doing it for a lack of funds, but we have to utilize officers in the best way possible out there, and I'm not completely convinced that's the way to do that."

Prasser points out that the $200 fine goes to the state, not the city.

The HOV citation, whether issued in person or by mail, is entered on a person's driver's abstract as a moving violation, said Shirley Cavanaugh, state Judiciary spokeswoman.

Those issued by mail go to the registered owner of the vehicle, said Prasser, just like the photo speeding citations.

So far, he said he has not heard of anyone challenging an HOV citation for failing to identify who was driving the vehicle at the time of the infraction.