---

State should let counties
use highway cameras

THE ISSUE A House committee has approved bills that would allow counties to use cameras to catch motorists speeding and running red lights.

LEGISLATORS are exercising caution in going forward with a proposal to allow counties to use cameras to catch motorists speeding or running red lights. The yellow light stems from the wrath that state officials incurred for a badly flawed experimental program aimed at catching speeders on camera three years ago. Then-Gov. Ben Cayetano halted the program and the following Legislature repealed its authorization.

The corrected versions approved by a House committee this week would increase traffic safety without being unfair to motorists. The Legislature should not reject a highway safety tool that has been successful in other states merely because a past experiment in Hawaii was faulty.

Road rage from the 2002 attempt resulted from the state Department of Transportation failing to learn from problems that had occurred elsewhere. A San Diego judge had thrown out hundreds of red-light tickets because the company operating the cameras had the incentive of being paid for each ticket instead of a flat rate. The Hawaii experiment used the same company with the same incentive for it to catch more speeders.

Motorists also complained that the owner of a speeding vehicle was held to blame even if someone else had been driving. Under the new version, the driver is held responsible. The camera will focus on the driver's face, and the owner is allowed to challenge the allegation of being the driver.

Presumption of innocence attaches at trial and is not binding on police or prosecutors before then. Prosecutors can be expected to drop speeding and red-light charges if the person driving the offending vehicle cannot be identified and found.

The American Civil Liberties Union also sued the state for violating privacy rights by turning over the Social Security numbers of speeders to the private operator of the cameras. The state stopped using Social Security numbers on drivers' licenses in 2001, and the transition will not be complete until next year. Counties hiring private companies to take the photographs should delay implementation until then.

Unlike the 2002 effort, the current measures would allow the counties to be in control of the traffic cameras or opt out. Controlling traffic has been a function of county police, and traffic cameras should not be operated by the state. In an important diversion from past greed, the state would allow counties to keep the revenue from the traffic cameras.

Traffic cameras have been effective. The Federal Highway Administration cites a study showing that most jurisdictions using red-light cameras have had downward trends in violations and crashes. Violations fell by 68 percent in San Francisco and 92 percent in Los Angeles.