Those Darn Van Cams

So the state contracted a mainland company to deploy speed camera vans on Honolulu's highways, and when the tickets — hundreds of them — started flying, locals started howling. Front page news for weeks. Love 'em? Hate 'em?

I know I'm in the minority, but I think they were a good idea ... just badly, horribly implemented. (The state botch a slam-dunk PR job? No!) I'm a comfy speed-limit freeway cruiser — yes I keep right, thank you — and since the cams showed up I no longer feel like I'm caught in a stampede whenever I make the twice-weekly drive out to Mililani.

Money talks. If people didn't speed, they wouldn't get tickets or dinged by their insurance companies. And, if people didn't speed, the big, bad, capitalist company the state hired would go out of business, too.

But, the program's a mess. (Seizing on the Pali and its ludicrous 35MPH limit, for starters, was a mistake.) And now it seems the state's been losing money. And even on a tiny island, we still worship the car. "Motorists" make up a pretty broad and powerful voting bloc, so I'd say the whole thing's headed for extinction.

It was a fun flap while it lasted, though. License plate cover sales and all. And I'll never forget the Star-Bulletin photo of a would-be activist who ran up to a van and blocked its view with a big sign that encouraged oncoming drivers to "GO BRUDDAH GO!"

Comments

Agreed. First the idiots (oops, legislators) pass it with virtually no publicity (I think I read there were public hearings, but they surely weren't well attended or understood), then it's implemented with no advance warning of the implications. Then they put them in places where the limits are too slow, then they don't get the C&C on board. Then they ignore the intersections where lights are ignored/unseen. I coulda run this better in my sleep! Well, that sounds like Brando (I coulda been a contendah!), but still...

We don't have 'em here, yet. It's a good thing cause I doubt that it would work here with our notorious no shoulder roads and hairpin turns. I guess they could try the Queen Kaahumanu highway (aka the lower road to Kona). What I want to know is who has something to gain by trying to sneak this into implementation on O'ahu with virtually no public input? What was the rush to give out so much money with so little tweaking? Some of the problems seemed so obvious--like the flash at night thing. Duh! Aren't a good number of the legislators attorneys? It's a no brainer that it would be illegal to charge someone without proof that they, in fact, were driving. Nobody thought about insurance? Oooh! Insurance, that must be it.

There's talk of implementing them here in Austin, but I think this town is too liberal to tolerate something like that. Just you all wait for someone cheating on his wife to get caught on camera.

I'm still bitter about the bill being passed which made car-insurance mandatory. This bill put many law-abiding citizens in a uncomfortable financial position. If the lawmakers are going to make insurance coverage mandatory, shouldn't they also make it affordable for all Hawai'i drivers?

A proud pic of my car going a *whopping* 9 over the speed limit is fastened to my fridge. Must say their cameras have pretty good resolution. My opinion? I speed everywhere else but the 1/4 mile around where the "scam van" sits. And I'm one of the Windward folk they targeted. Am I bitter? nah, just smarter:)

See? Now that's how it's supposed to work. The government builds a better mousetrap, the mice get smarter. Lather, rinse, repeat. Hell, the vans have to disclose where they park, versus cops who can drive alongside big trucks and wait for you to whip past.

(Though I was just thinking... I bet now when you get a ticket from an actual cop, you might actually be thankful to be getting "customer service" from a person!)

Coming down H-2, I coast over the limit at times... I know there's a risk of getting caught. But that's just the way the deal works, how the game is played. Someone who's strictly by the book will never get busted. Anywhere looser than that, and you're making compromises with the law (and your safety).

Down H-2...when I worked up in Mililani I was driving such a clunker it couldn't have sped if it tried. It was a real joy to drive contra-traffic flows, though; up there in the morning, back in the afternoon. Much better than driving in to town (or worse, Waikiki) for 15 years!

Well, that's interesting...comments strip out html. I tried to add italics to the word "contra" up there, and it took 'em out.

My opinion is that state lawmakers were too cowardly to propose a tax increase, so they came up with a plan they could pretend was in the "interest of public safety". If they truly cared about traffic safety, there are many better and more effective ways to solve that problem. A "speed tax" is certainly not one of them.

And is it just me, or does anyone else notice the tailgating and pack behavior of traffic around the vans? Pali seems more dangerous at peak times now than before.

Interesting way of putting it. Yet, I think a "speed tax" isn't too objectionable. Like a cigarette tax or a liquor tax, it's generating revenue from something people _choose_ to do, but (arguably, I know) shouldn't.

I go both ways on the 'making traffic worse' argument. I certainly have seen weird roadway conditions caused by vans (folks slowing down suddenly, changing lanes to hide, tailgating to hide their plates), but then again, the same sort of thing happens when you turn a corner and see a cop under a bridge. On the other hand, in the weeks immediately following the vans' appearance, _everyone_ was driving an even 55, and if anything, traffic overall flowed more smoothly.

Fluid dynamics in real life. A traffic jam is more likely to develop when the range of speeds is wide (i.e. some folks going 50, some going 70). When everyone's going the same speed, you might not go as fast in the short term, but chances are you got where you're going earlier.

Oh. And Linkmeister (and all) - do you want HTML enabled for comments? It's recommended that it be disabled to prevent folks from suddenly inserting graphics or porn or malicious code... but on the other hand, we're all good folks here, right?

Um. I'm the paranoid sort who would prefer HTML disabled. SPAMmers have already resorted to making fake posts in guestbooks.

Of course we're all good folks here! Muaahaha! Nah, no preference either way--formating codes make it easier to convey expression but I don't want hacker/spammers expressing themselves either.

Makes me no never mind; it's always useful to know what functions work and what don't. Now we know. I can always SHOUT to emphasize something! Grins...

Speaking as a mainland driver (although I learned in HI, I never drove there much), I just don't see how the Oahu DOT can target people just on speeding alone. That's far less dangerous than obstructing traffic flow.

I have nothing against a 55 mph speed limit (esp. on H1), but enforce the minimum speed as well.

I drive in a heavily congested & highly aggressive area (2nd worst traffic in the nation!). We have horrendous drivers - the ones that weave back and forth across 4 lanes of traffic at 75 mph + speeds. Yet I have to say that some of the worst drivers I've encountered have been on Oahu. They aren't bad because of speed (hell, I couldn't speed there if I tried except coming out of any of the tunnels because of sheer gravity) but because everyone slow seems to drive in the left lane. Not only that, but they are oblivious to the fact that they're pacing the car on the right and holding traffic up.

I still complain about my area but at least most people seem to travel at complimentary speeds and traffic tends to flow. Then again, our freeways don't have the space and onramp/offramp problem faced by Honolulu.

Lucky you live Hawaii, eh? ;)

Bunny, absolutely, slow drivers are a hazard as well. Hawaii, like states like Florida, definitely renews licenses much later in life than it should (I have a relative who's 90 and still gets behind the wheel - how she makes it home every time boggles my mind), which is part of it. A high number of completely unlicensed drivers is another problem.

On the other hand, someone going the minimum of 40 isn't as much of a hazard if everyone else kept below 55. It's when someone going 70 comes 'round a corner behind grandma that disaster strikes.

I'll tell you what, though. There are two kinds of "Bad Drivers." Bad because they're aggressive and somewhat careless, and bad because they're... well, a little dense. Drivers in New York and L.A. are in the former category. Drivers in Hawaii - due in no small part to their sometimes excessive courtesy - are in the latter.

yo yo yo...

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