Aloha and Happy New Year! I want to let you know about an exciting bill that I’ve drafted for the next legislative session which has the potential to make our roads a lot safer for you and your family.

The bill would do two main things: First, it would require the state, by July 2010, to transfer all the revenue it takes in from uncon-tested traffic fines and give that money to the counties where it rightfully belongs. By uncontested traffic fines, I’m referring to those traffic fines that people pay without bothering to go through the court system. It has never made sense to me that our county police departments are the ones doing the work to issue the tickets, but then the state swoops down and takes that money away.

Secondly, the bill would allow the counties to use the millions of dollars collected from these uncon-tested traffic fines each year to establish highway patrols. By the way, if the counties don’t use this money for a county highway patrol, it would go back to the state. This would protect against the counties spending it for other purposes.

I’ve been a big supporter of creating county highway patrols since my days on the Honolulu City Council. In fact, I introduced a resolution (04-137) which passed unanimously in 2004 to urge the city administration to set up a highway patrol within the Honolulu Police Department. At that time HPD supported the concept and stated that it would better equip them to enforce our traffic laws and also free up their traffic division officers to concentrate on other criminal matters. The idea is to have about 10 to 14 highway patrol officers on duty 24-7 on our highways and other hot spots known for excessive speeding and dangerous driving.

State Sen. Mike Gabbard is surrounded by people who attended one of his “listen-story” meetings at Honokai Hale. From left are Sherrod Moore, Erika Moon, Lorraine Martinez, Pat Chardon, Dovie Borges, Bev Larranaga and George Furtado. Photo from Gabbard’s office.

To bring the problem into perspective, here are a few startling statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

Hawaii tied for second in the nation for the highest increase in the number of fatalities from motor vehicle crashes, increasing 15 percent from 140 in 2005 to 161 in 2006.

In 2006, Hawaii had the highest percentage of traffic deaths involving alcohol in the nation.

Police issued 944 citations statewide in 2005 for racing on highways.

As you see, we’ve got a big problem with reckless, drunken, and speeding drivers who’ve basically turned our highways into killing fields. It’s time that we give our police departments the necessary funding so they can focus on making our roads safer.

I’ll need all the help I can get in trying to convince my colleagues at the Legislature that this is what we need to do in 2008. Interestingly enough, I’ve already recruited some champions for this bill. I recently was contacted by the students at Moanalua High School who are participating in Project Citizen. This is a federal program that encourages students to take an active role in the political process. I’m pleased that these motivated youngsters have decided to make the passage of my bill the focus of their project.