HONOLULU (KHON2) — A program meant to nab speeders has hit a bump in the road. The Department of Transportation’s speed camera program was expected to launch this month but it’s been delayed to ensure it has enough manpower to move forward.
The speed camera program is meant to make our roads safer and save lives.
“Some of the speeds that we’re seeing in the system are absolutely alarming,” Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said. “In 30 to 35 mile per hour speed limits, we’re seeing 80 plus going through these areas.”
The speed enforcement program piggy-backs on the existing 10 red light safety cams already online. And it works exactly the same, mailing tickets out to anyone caught speeding at those lights.
Sniffen said it’s already collecting data, registering more than 22,000 cars going at least 11 miles per hour over the speed limit in one week across the 10 red light cam locations.
The speed cams were set to go live late January but Sniffen said it’s being pushed back.
“By late February, early March, we’ll start up our warning citations.”
He said they need to make sure they have adequate manpower to manage it.
“In general, there could be about 10 times more speeding citations issued than red light,” Sniffen said.
To add speed enforcement, Sniffen said they’ll need to increase the number of officers monitoring the cameras from two to about 20. An unrealistic ask, given HPD has been dealing with staffing issues for years.
“We’ll be working with our our Department of Law Enforcement as well, to try and get some resources from them,” Sniffen said.
House Transportation Chair Rep. Darius Kila said DLE is essential to move the program forward.
“They’re going to be providing the technical assistance, the manpower to oversee this to make sure that its then sent over to the prosecutor’s office,” Kila said.
According to Kila, legislators are requesting $3 million to $5 million to fund the positions.
“We can obviously cut it down short, to a lower amount but I think if we want the full effectiveness of the program that’s what we’re going to need to implement,” Kila said.
He also wants to make sure it’s clear how fast someone has to go over the speed limit to get a citation.
“We cannot expect our residents to operate without knowing what’s going to set it off,” Kila said. “We know what’s going to set off a red light camera so to be fare and transparent they need to know what’s going to activate a speed infraction.”
When it does go live, Sniffen said all 10 of the red light cameras will start with warnings for 30 days before they issue speeding tickets.
DOT intends to add 10 new cameras every year.
“Once we start putting in those new cameras, they’ll do red light and speed,” Sniffen said.
DOT is required to do 60 days of education before they start issuing speeding tickets. Sniffen said that should begin soon.