Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 294 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to honor the fundamental rights enshrined by the Bill of Rights and the sacrifices made to create and preserve those rights by proclaiming December 15 of every year as Bill of Rights Day.

Your Committee has amended the measure by deleting its title and contents and inserting therefor provisions that request the Legislative Reference Bureau to conduct a review of existing studies and statistics on the causal relationship between wireless telephone use while operating a motor vehicle and increased motor vehicle-related accidents.

Your Committee received testimony opposing the amending of the measure from a private citizen.

Your Committee finds that wireless telephones have become a very popular and affordable commodity in today's society. However, using wireless telephones while operating a motor vehicle creates a potentially dangerous situation, not only for other motorists but for pedestrians as well, and the number of accidents attributable to wireless telephone misuse seem to be increasing.

According to a recent study published by the New England Journa1 of Medicine, the risk of the occurrence of an accident is four times more likely when the driver is busy conversing with someone on a wireless telephone, and the driver's attention is more apt to be on the discussion than on the road. As early as 1991, a study performed by the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety found that drivers using wireless telephones were twenty to thirty per cent more likely to be involved in a highway traffic accident situation.

In 2001, New York became the first state in the nation to adopt a ban on the use of hand-held mobile telephones while driving on public roads, except in emergency situations. In Hawaii, legislation has been periodically introduced over the past decade calling for a similar ban on the use of wireless telephones while operating a motor vehicle.

However, your Committee recognizes that the use of wireless telephones while operating a motor vehicle is not the only distraction-inducing act committed by drivers. Other actions, such as eating, drinking, applying cosmetics, reading, adjusting the volume or changing what is on a motor vehicle's radio, or even talking to a passenger, may also contribute significantly to a driver's inattentiveness while driving.

Your Committee believes that if the Legislature is to ban a distraction-inducing action while operating a motor vehicle, it should not discriminate against a particular distraction-inducing action without first determining if that action is the most prevalent cause of distraction-induced motor vehicle accidents.

As such, your Committee further believes that, prior to imposing a ban on the use of wireless telephones while operating a motor vehicle, the Legislature should obtain more information on the causal relationship between using a wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle and the incidence of increased motor vehicle-related accidents.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 294, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 294, S.D. 1.