[ OUR OPINION ]
Stop games and enact
teen driver license program
THE ISSUETraffic fatalities caused by young drivers decreased nationally last year from 2002 but rose sharply in Hawaii.
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HAWAII'S tragic number of young drivers who died in automobile crashes last year should provide a wake-up call for legislators whose political chicanery in the past session killed a measure aimed at saving lives. The popular bill was used as leverage to gain passage of a controversial one, but the gimmick failed. Both proposals went down to defeat. A bill to set up a three-stage licensing program for young drivers should be enacted in the next session without hindrances.
While the number of fatalities involving drivers aged 15 to 20 declined nationally last year, from 9,251 to 8,666, Hawaii was among 14 states where the numbers increased. Fatal crashes involving young drivers in Hawaii rose dramatically from 19 deaths in 2002 to 32 last year.
"We had a lot of horrible crashes last year involving our youth -- a lot of them alcohol-related," said state Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa. "What happens is you have groups of kids riding together and the driver is drinking and, unfortunately, it's resulted in multiple deaths."
A proposal presented to this year's Legislature and previous sessions would have required beginning drivers to acquire learning permits and provisional licenses before attaining full licensure, combined with nighttime and teenage passenger restrictions. It would have prohibited those under 18 from driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless accompanied by a licensed parent or guardian.
Programs in 38 states that have such rules have experienced reductions in the number of accidents involving teenage drivers by as much as one-third. Most of those states allow exceptions for driving to and from school or work and for farm-related activities.
The bill's passage was supported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Lingle administration and the Honolulu Police Department.
That level of support gave legislative leaders the cute idea of using it to gain passage of a more controversial bill, one that would provide for installation of traffic cameras at intersections to catch motorists speeding or running red lights. The two proposals were made part of the same bill.
"I thought that each one was equally important," said House Transportation Chairman Joe Souki. He was fully aware of the controversial nature of the traffic-camera bill because of the previous public outrage about highway traffic cameras and should have known that it could sink the driver licensing bill. That is precisely what happened.
All four county police departments are set to begin a campaign next month to set up drunken-driving checkpoints once a week for the next year instead of three-day holiday weekends. Ishikawa said that "could shake things up a bit."
However, the state needs to implement a more focused program that has been shown to reduce fatalities caused by teenage drivers in other states. Political gamesmanship should not come into play.
