No aloha? Ticket may have saved a life
This is in reply to the May 31 letter from the Solak family from Grosse Pointe, Mich., regarding our seat belt law and its enforcement.
In your letter you stated that you felt that as a tourist you were singled out to be ticketed for not having your wife wearing her seat belt in the backseat of your rental car. You also stated that you thought it was a way to make money, a “seat belt trap.” You wanted to know why you were not given a little “aloha” instead of the ticket.
As a resident of this island and of the state of Hawaii I would like to say that you and your family received the greatest gift of aloha that you could get. Aloha is love and respect and caring for one another.
The state of Hawaii has its laws and the seat belt law is one of them.
Can you imagine what our home and the island of Hawaii would be like if we made exceptions for every tourist visitor who gave the same excuse as “we did not know the law” and “back home we don’t have such laws”?
You were not back home, you were in our home, and not knowing the laws is no excuse. If everyone did as they pleased, we who live here would have to put our lives on the line every time we wanted to do something, “No seat belts, talking or texting while driving, speeding, drinking, drugs while driving,” what else do you feel should be allowed because you didn’t know the law or came from somewhere else?
The aloha you were given may have saved your life and that of your wife. It allowed you all the ability to live and enjoy your family, children and grandkids. It allowed you to feel the sun and breezes on your face. It allowed you to return to Hawaii again and enjoy all those things that you enjoyed before you broke our law.
Please look at it as the greatest gift of aloha when someone protects you and your ohana from harm.
Bob Dempsey
Kailua-Kona