Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 2003, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to increase traffic safety by repealing a provision in Hawaii's seat belt law that exempts passengers from the seat belt requirement when the number of passengers exceeds the number of seat belt assemblies in the vehicle.

The Honolulu Police Department, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and Disability and Communications Access Board testified in support of this bill. The Department of Transportation supported the intent of the measure.

Recent motor vehicle crashes in Hawaii in which individuals who were not wearing passenger restraints were ejected from the vehicle and received fatal injuries have shown the need for an end to seat belt law exemptions. Your Committee finds that data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that adults wearing a seat belt are 45 percent more likely to survive a serious motor vehicle crash than if they are unrestrained, with the percentage for infants and toddlers being even higher.

Although this measure is in the best interest of the health and safety of the public, your Committee understands that some older model vehicles, especially those manufactured prior to 1968, may lack the necessary hardware to accommodate a proper restraint system in the rear of a vehicle, making it impossible for the vehicle's owner to comply with this law. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

Your Committee requests that the Judiciary Committee consider combining sections 291-11.5 and 291-11.6 to harmonize the seat belt and booster seat provisions into a single statute.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2003, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2003, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.