[ OUR OPINION ]

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Traffic safety measures
deserve bipartisan support

THE ISSUE Governor Lingle has proposed several measures for the Legislature to make traffic safer.

STATE legislators bungled traffic safety proposals in this year's session and will have an opportunity to correct their inaction. Governor Lingle has made a version of two of those important measures part of her legislative package and Democrats have indicated they will do the same. Legislators should avoid the pitfalls they created in their last go-round.

At the top of Lingle's list is a proposal to require beginning drivers to acquire learning permits and provisional licenses before attaining full licensure. The measure also would prohibit drivers under 18 from driving between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. without a licensed driver who is at least 21.

A similar proposal was so popular in this year's Legislature that House Transportation Chairman Joe Souki tried to use it to gain passage of a controversial traffic-camera proposal by making the proposals part of the same bill. The gamesmanship resulted in the death of both bills in a Senate-House conference committee.

Another Lingle proposal for the upcoming Legislature would elevate excessive speeding -- 80 mph or more, or 25 mph above the posted speed limit -- to a full misdemeanor, with fines of up to $1,000 and jail time or community service, along with license suspension. Speeding of any kind is now a petty misdemeanor, with fines limited to $250.

Last year's House Transportation Committee approved a tougher measure that would have made driving more than 30 mph above the speed limit a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 and a one-year driver's license suspension. The bill died when Senate Judiciary Chairman Colleen Hanabusa complained that it would increase the burden of proof for conviction to beyond a reasonable doubt.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle supported the felony proposal and there is no good reason why an excessive-speeding law should not have two levels of seriousness, incorporating a semblance of Lingle's proposal. Prosecutors have had little difficulty proving drunken driving beyond a reasonable doubt since it was criminalized years ago, and excessive speeding should be treated similarly.

Other proposals by Lingle would impose a 90-day license suspension for any person under 21 who is caught drinking, prevent interference with traffic signals with gadgets available by the Internet and clarify the law requiring drivers to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in crosswalks. All those are measures that deserve bipartisan support.

Democrats, who control the Legislature, have yet to announce their package for the upcoming session, but Souki suggested the governor's proposals might be part of it. They should not be burdened with controversial clutter.