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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Seat belt fines feed
fund for neurotraumaQuestion: Can you clarify what the law is on wearing seat belts in cars and at what age kids have to be in car seats?
Answer: Hawaii's seat belt law requires the driver and all front-seat passengers, regardless of age, to buckle up. Passengers under the age of 18 riding in the back seat also must wear seat belts.
Hawaii's Child Passenger Restraint Law requires all children under 4 to be buckled in a child safety seat, unless the vehicle is an emergency, mass transit or commercial vehicle.
As of Jan. 1, the penalties for violating either law have been increased by $10, with fees going into a neurotrauma special fund to help victims of brain and spinal injuries.
The penalty for not wearing a seat belt now totals $77 -- a $45 fine for each violation, a $15 administrative fee, a $7 driver's education fee; and the $10 neurotrauma surcharge.
The penalty for not complying with the child passenger seat law is a fine between $100 and $500, depending on the number of offenses; required attendance at a maximum four-hour child passenger restraint safety class; a $50 driver education fee; plus the $10 neurotrauma surcharge.
The neurotrauma special fund was created by the 2002 state Legislature (Act 160) and mandates the state Department of Health to "develop, lead, administer, coordinate, monitor, evaluate, and set direction for a comprehensive system to support and provide services for survivors of neurotrauma injuries."
Money collected from surcharges on traffic violations, such as speeding, drunken driving, not wearing seat belts and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury -- which often lead to brain and spinal injuries -- will go into the fund.
About $91,000 has been collected for the fund so far, Mike Tamanaha, chief of the Department of Health's Developmental Disabilities Division, said yesterday. Based on previous violations, it's estimated that about $600,000 annually could go into the fund, he said.
He noted that even though the fund depends on violations, it is a good thing if more people start buckling up because of the crackdown on seat-belt violators in the current "Click It or Ticket" campaign.
Tamanaha said other states have resorted to assessing a similar surcharge as a means of funding services for people with brain injuries.
His agency is now focusing on educating people about neurotrauma; linking people with injuries and their families to available services; and creating a neurotrauma registry to compile data and statistics on injuries.
In addition to the State Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board, a new Neurotrauma Advisory Board is involved in deciding how to use the funds, he said, while a "grass roots advocacy effort is just getting started."
Health officials have worked out procedures with the state Judiciary, which oversees the Traffic Violations Bureau, to transfer monies to the fund.
Auwe
To those of you using weed killers, please spray when it's not windy. The spray can carry blocks away and destroy your neighbor's yard. My lemon tree is just coming back to life, but then the spray got my hibiscus. -- No Name
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