Over the past three-plus years, Hawaii Police Department officers have issued between 3,000 and 4,000 tickets each year to Big Island motorists for not buckling their seat belts.
Over the past three-plus years, Hawaii Police Department officers have issued between 3,000 and 4,000 tickets each year to Big Island motorists for not buckling their seat belts.
From Jan. 1, 2013, to April 30 this year, police wrote 11,706 tickets to drivers because they and/or their passengers weren’t strapped in. The yearly totals are: 3,350 in 2013; 3,692 in 2014; 3,432 in 2015; and 1,232 for the first four months of 2016, a rate that projects to 3,696 citations this year.
“It’s interesting to see the numbers are similar over the past number of years but there are various things to consider: It’s all based on what the officer sees, when the officer’s able to do traffic enforcement, the time of day. There are various circumstances that are going to factor into when the officer is going to be able to write a citation,” Sgt. Robert Pauole of the police Traffic Services Section said.
“What’s unfortunate, though, is that those are big numbers. I’m still surprised that, over a three- or four-year period, that people are still not wearing their seat beat.”
Under a law signed on May 20, 2013, the driver is legally responsible to see that passengers also buckle up. If the driver is stopped and any passenger isn’t using a seat belt, car seat or booster seat — whether in the front or back seat— the driver will be cited.
“I think people know what the initial consequence is, the $102 fine,” Pauole said. “I’m unsure, though, if most drivers know that they are responsible for all the occupants in their vehicles. So, in essence, if a driver has four or five people in his vehicle and none of them are belted in, he could be looking at $400-$500 in fines.”
The fines could be steeper if child passenger restraint laws are involved. Child restraint and booster seat violators must go to court, and, if convicted, face a fine of $100-$500, depending upon the number of offenses, and must attend a mandatory four-hour class.
Not surprisingly, Kona, which includes both North and South Kona, and Hilo, which is the South Hilo district, are where the highest numbers of citations were written during the 40-month period. There were 4,027 tickets issued in Kona and 3,749 in Hilo followed by 1,665 in Puna, 832 in South Kohala, 523 in Hamakua, 498 in Ka‘u, 250 in North Kohala and 162 in North Hilo. Enforcement grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are accompanied by education and awareness campaigns, such as “Click It or Ticket” for seat belt use. The latest campaign wrapped up June 5. Pauole said the department received $75,000 in grant money for the federal fiscal year for seat belt enforcement and he distributes, as needed, with the busier districts getting the larger shares.
“We try to use most of the money during the Click It or Ticket month but we use it year-round. Click It or Ticket is a campaign for awareness. Officers don’t stop writing citations outside that period. We’re always doing seat belt checkpoints, distracted driver checkpoints and DUI roadblocks year-round,” he said. “For grant projects — Click it or Ticket, distracted driving and DUI roadblock grants — Kona gets more of the grant money than any other district, so perhaps that’s why they write more citations.”
“There’s a theory on (police) visibility: The more likely you think you’ll get caught, the more likely you’ll obey the law,” he added. “The seat belt checkpoints, the distracted driver checkpoints and the DUI checkpoints cover that theory. The more visible officers are, the more a potential violator thinks twice about breaking the law.”
Studies cited by NHTSA have Hawaii ranked at or near the top nationally for observed seat belt usage, between 93 and 98 percent each year between 2010 and 2014, with national averages hovering between 84 and 87 percent.
“I’m reluctant to jump for joy over those things,” Pauole said. “They’re usually conducted after ‘Click It or Ticket’ events, so (noncompliance rates) are generally going to be lower.”
According to NHTSA statistics, seat belt usage is the single most effective step drivers and passengers can take to protect themselves in a traffic crash. In 2014, the use of seat belts in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 12,802 lives nationwide. From 2010 to 2014, seat belts saved an estimated 63,000 lives. An estimated 125 lives were saved in Hawaii during that time frame by buckling up, but those numbers weren’t broken down by county.
“We’ve been preaching for years about safety — losing your life or losing someone else who’s in the vehicle with you,” Pauole said. “And people don’t realize that if someone is not buckled in while they’re in the vehicle, they’re not just a hazard to themselves, they’re putting other people in the vehicle at risk, because you are a possible flying object in the vehicle and you can strike somebody else in the vehicle and cause serious bodily injury or death to them.”
Police Chief Harry Kubojiri echoed the safety theme.
“We issue citations because we want the public to realize that wearing a seat belt can mean the difference between life and death. Wearing one is one of the easiest and safest choices a motorist can make,” he said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.