BY CHELSEA JENSEN |WEST HAWAII TODAY Better fasten that seat belt and ignore that cellphone while driving your car. ADVERTISING Big Island police cited 186 motorists for not wearing a seat belt and 17 for using a cellphone or other
BY CHELSEA JENSEN |WEST HAWAII TODAY
Better fasten that seat belt and ignore that cellphone while driving your car.
Big Island police cited 186 motorists for not wearing a seat belt and 17 for using a cellphone or other mobile electronic device during 22 federally funded seat belt enforcement projects conducted from July 1 to Dec. 31 in Kona, said Traffic Services Section Sgt. Robert Pauole. Islandwide, during that 184-day period, the department cited 561 seat belt law violators and 108 cellphone users during 131 projects, he said.
Funding for the seat belt enforcement projects, which in the Kona area are often set up along Alii Drive and Kuakini Highway, is derived from a federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Seatbelt Enforcement Grant administered through the state Department of Transportation. This year, like 2011, the department received about $72,000 to conduct enforcement projects around the island, he said.
The grant program differs from the “Click It or Ticket” campaign, also a federal grant aimed at seat belt-use awareness, and is among a number of grants the department pursues annually to combat speeding; drunken, aggressive and distracted driving; and other traffic safety issues affecting Big Island roadways, Pauole said.
While the project’s checkpoints are aimed primarily at enforcing Hawaii seat belt and Hawaii County cellphone-use laws, Pauole said it offers police an opportunity to interact with the public, provide information and education, possibly identify other violations or apprehend a wanted individual.
In addition to seat belt and cellphone citations, police islandwide doled out 550 non-moving violations, which includes weight tax, registration and safety inspection infractions, 269 moving violations, which includes not having no-fault insurance and driving without a license, and 57 speeding tickets, Pauole said. The department also made 23 arrests, however, he was unable to say whether any previously had warrants issued for their arrest.
“We can get anything, it all depends,” he said. “It’s a good thing that all starts with a cellphone or seat belt violation.”
Hawaii law requires seat belts for those riding in a vehicle’s front seat and those 17 and younger riding in the rear seats. The fine for a seat belt violation is $92, according to Hawaii Revised Statutes. According to Hawaii County Code, a cellphone citation could net a fine up to $150 and up to $500 if the violation occurred in conjunction with an accident.
Though a cellphone or seat belt citation will end up on a driver’s abstract, Pauole said it is not classified in District Court as a moving violation and therefore will not directly impact a person’s car insurance. The citation could, however, be “frowned upon” by an insurance company should the company request a driver’s abstract as part of its determination to provide coverage, he said.
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s Seat Belt Use in 2010, Hawaii overall had a seat belt use rate of 97.62 percent. According to the state Department of Transportation Safe Communities Coordinator Bob Lung, annual surveys conducted showed Hawaii County as of 2010 had a seat belt-use rate of 95 percent.
While Pauole said studies may indicate a high number of people in Hawaii County and the state use seat belts while in a motor vehicle, he cautioned the data may be skewed as it is taken in a certain area over a specified duration of time and may not reflect actual seat belt use.
“We appear to have high (seat belt) usage, but I still want to see people using seat belts more,” he said after reflecting on his days working in the department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit and questioning whether seat belt use could have resulted in fewer fatal accidents. “People need to use their seat belts.”
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
