STAND. COM. REP. NO. 465

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 150

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 150 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DRIVER LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to increase traffic safety. Among other things, this bill:

(1) Establishes a three-stage graduated driver licensing system for persons under the age of 18;

(2) Requires drivers under the age of 18 to be accompanied by a licensed parent or guardian when driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.;

(3) Provides exceptions for working individuals; and

(4) Requires every temporary permit holder to be accompanied by an individual who is at least 21 years of age when driving.

The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Mothers Against Drunk Driving-Hawaii, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, American Academy of Pediatrics-Hawaii Chapter, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Hawaii Insurers Council, and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure. The Department of Transportation, Department of Health, Department of Education, and Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu supported the intent of the measure. The Office of the Public Defender testified in opposition to this measure.

Research, studies, and statistics have shown that young, novice drivers have an extremely high crash risk with factors such as inexperience and immaturity being major contributors. This is especially true at night. In fact, in Hawaii, during the five-year period between 1999 and 2003, 53 percent of all reported injury deaths among 15- to 19-year-olds were due to motor vehicle crashes, with 42 percent of all fatal crashes involving drivers between 16 and 17 years of age occurring at night.

Your Committee finds that previous legislation to increase driving restrictions on younger drivers has significantly reduced the proportion of traffic crashes involving teen drivers. Nighttime restrictions on drivers in the younger age group are designed to give them time to develop the skills necessary for safe driving under these conditions and should also result in an increase in traffic safety, especially among teenagers. Other states that have enacted legislation establishing graduated licensing systems and nighttime driving restrictions have seen significant declines in motor vehicle crashes and fatalities involving teenage drivers.

However, your Committee understands that cases exist in which it may be necessary for a teenager to be driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., especially when a teenager is attending a school function or is gainfully employed.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by, among other things:

(1) Allowing, rather than requiring, a person between the ages of 16 and 18 to be granted a provisional license if the person meets specific requirements;

(2) Changing the expiration date of a provisional license from one to two months after the date of the licensee's eighteenth birthday;

(3) Deleting the requirement that a provisional license be surrendered on receipt of a driver's license;

(4) Clarifying that a holder of a provisional license must have the license in the holder's immediate possession to drive a motor vehicle upon the roadways of the state;

(5) Requiring that the licensed parent or guardian accompanying the provisional licensee or holder of an instruction permit while the licensee or permit holder is driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. occupy a seat beside the licensee or permit holder;

(6) Deleting the provision that limits the provisional licensee to transporting only one immediate family member, other than the parent or guardian, during the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.;

(7) Requiring that child passengers be placed in child passenger restraint systems as required by law;

(8) Allowing for the transport of more than one person under the age of 18 and unrelated to the provisional licensee during the hours of 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., if the licensee's parent or guardian is in the motor vehicle;

(9) Inserting language allowing the provisional licensee to transport one person under the age of 18 during the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., if the licensee is accompanied by the licensee's parent or guardian, under certain circumstances;

(10) Inserting language allowing a provisional licensee to travel to or from a school-authorized activity during the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m., if the licensee has in the licensee's possession a signed statement from a parent or guardian with the parent's or guardian's name, address, and telephone number, verifying the necessity for the licensee to be operating the motor vehicle;

(11) Deleting language allowing for the revocation of a provisional license if a provisional licensee fails to meet the requirements for operating a motor vehicle under specific circumstances;

(12) Specifying that a provisional license shall be suspended by a district court judge for a period of three months if a provisional licensee fails to meet the requirements for operating a motor vehicle under specific circumstances and that the reissuance of a provisional license or issuance of a driver's license not occur until the provisional licensee is either 18 years of age, or three months have elapsed since the time of suspension, rather than allowing for the reinstatement of a provisional license pursuant to a court order or section 286-104;

(13) Specifying that for a second or subsequent violation of failing to meet the requirements for operating a motor vehicle under specific circumstances, the provisional licensee shall have the licensee's license revoked for a period of six months and that the reissuance of a provisional license or issuance of a driver's license not occur until the provisional licensee is either 18 years of age, or six months have elapsed since the time of revocation, rather than allowing for the reinstatement of a provisional license pursuant to a court order or section 286-104;

(14) Specifying that if an individual is convicted of an offense relating to the operation of a motor vehicle, the individual's provisional license shall be revoked or suspended and that the a reissuance of a provisional license or issuance of a driver's license shall not occur until the provisional licensee is either 18 years of age, or six months have elapsed since the time of suspension or revocation;

(15) Specifying that if an individual is convicted of a second or subsequent offense relating to the operation of a motor vehicle, the individual's provisional license shall be revoked for a period of one year and that the reissuance of a provisional license or issuance of a driver's license not occur until the provisional licensee is either 18 years of age, or one year has elapsed since the time of suspension or revocation;

(16) Clarifying that emancipated minors and motorcycle and motor scooter permittees or licensees are exempt from the provisional licensing requirements;

(17) Deleting the provision for four-year expiration periods for licenses issued to individuals between the ages of 15 and 17;

(18) Requiring that an applicant for a provisional license has held a valid instruction permit for a period of no fewer than 180 days;

(19) Specifying that individuals failing to comply with a notice to surrender an illegible permit, provisional license, or license shall be subject to penalties;

(20) Changing the effective date from July 1, 2005, to January 1, 2006; and

(21) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

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 H.B. No. 150, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 150, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,

 

____________________________

JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair