WHEREAS, the United States Department of Transportation National Highway Safety Administration has acknowledged that, every year, speeding is responsible for a high percentage of traffic fatalities, with thirty-two per cent of the 41,600 fatalities on American roads in 1999 attributable to speeding; and

WHEREAS, speeding is not only a problem on mainland interstates but is also a problem on roads all over Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, in 2002, during a single three-hour daytime shift on the H-1 freeway, Waianae bound at Waikele, a total of one hundred seventy speeding violations were recorded; and

WHEREAS, of the one hundred seventy speeding violations, numerous vehicles were recorded at speeds between seventy-five and ninety-five miles per hour; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature has been trying to reduce the number of speeders for years, most recently with the unpopular and expensive van cams; and

WHEREAS, because of limited resources, the Legislature recognizes that the speeding problem cannot be resolved solely by having law enforcement officers monitoring all of Hawaii's roadways and freeways; and

WHEREAS, in Gulf Breeze, Florida, speeding has been successfully controlled by a program that uses volunteers driving police patrol cars to slow down potential speeders; and

WHEREAS, these volunteers do not carry firearms and cannot stop another driver, but can take down license numbers of traffic offenders, and because they have the effect of a "decoy," their mere presence discourages others from speeding; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the Honolulu Police Department is requested to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of a volunteer patrol car program for the purpose of controlling speeding on Oahu's roadways and freeways; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Honolulu Police Department is requested to submit its findings and recommendations, including a recommendation whether it may be feasible to extend the program to other counties and any proposed legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor and Chief of Police of the City and County of Honolulu.

Report Title:

Speeding; Volunteer Enforcement Program