STAND. COM. REP. NO. 52

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 1169
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation and Intergovernmental
Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1169 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DRIVER'S LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:
     
     The purpose of this measure is to strengthen the driver's
licensing law with respect to minors to promote safety and
responsibility.

     Specifically, this measure will:

     (1) Establish a driving curfew between the hours of 11 p.m.
         and 4 a.m. for all minors under the age of eighteen,
         unless accompanied by a licensed driver over age
         twenty-one, or when driving is necessary for school or
         work activities, or the minor is an emancipated minor;

     (2) Require the Director of Transportation to establish and
         certify a behind-the-wheel driver training program and
         to require applicants for a driver's license to complete
         such training;

     (3) Require applicants for a driver's permit to complete a
         driver education course; and

     (4) Require the courts to revoke the license of any driver
         under age eighteen, who is convicted of, or found to
         have committed a traffic infraction, other than parking,

 
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         standing and equipment offenses, and offenses by
         pedestrians.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure
from the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of
Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Department of Health, the
Police Department of the City and County of Honolulu, the
Governor's Highway Safety Council, the Keiki Injury Prevention
Coalition, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Hawaii Youth in
Action.  The Office of the Public Defender submitted testimony in
opposition.

     Your Committee finds that in Hawaii, teenage drivers are
more than twice as likely to be in a fatal crash as adult
drivers.  While teenage drivers account for only five percent of
all licensed drivers, they account for eleven percent of all
drivers involved in fatal crashes, according to a 1997 report by
the National Association of Independent Insurers.

     Your Committee further finds that the DOT has received
extensive community input on traffic safety issues during the
Oahu Trans 2K public hearing process and through a community
attitude survey conducted in November 1998.  In the Oahu Trans 2K
hearings, the overwhelming majority of public requests regarding
traffic safety were for greater education for new drivers in
traffic laws and driving skills.  The survey found that seventy-
seven percent of statewide respondents supported a mandatory
driver education course in order to obtain a learners permit, and
seventy percent supported nighttime restrictions on driving.

     Your Committee believes that this measure is an effective
response to driver safety concerns, ensuring that new drivers
have adequate training and making Hawaii's streets safer for both
teenage drivers and the public in general. 

     Your Committee has amended this measure to make technical
amendments to conform to standard drafting procedures.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs that is
attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the
intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1169, as amended herein, and
recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached
hereto as S.B. No. 1169, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee
on Judiciary.


 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Transportation
                                   and Intergovernmental Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair

 
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