STAND. COM. REP. NO. 345-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1760
                                     




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B.
No. 1760 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAY SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is
to increase the safety of passengers riding in motor vehicles.

     Your Committee finds that the driver and front-seat
passengers, who are four years of age or older, must be
restrained by seat belt assemblies, and that children under the
age of four must be restrained in child passenger restraint
systems, commonly referred to as car seats.  Your Committee
further finds that, as a result of vehicle accidents, serious
injuries and deaths occur to back-seat passengers who are not
utilizing the installed seat belts, since their usage is
voluntary, not mandatory.

     This bill proposes to require all passengers, ages four and
older, to utilize seat belt assemblies, thus extending this
mandate to back-seat passengers.  This bill also proposes to
increase fines from $20 to $45 for each violation of mandatory
seat belt use.

     Testimonies in support of this measure were received from
the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health, the
Police Department, city and county of Honolulu, the Keiki Injury
Prevention Coalition, the Hawai'i Nurses Association, and a

 
 
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citizen whose teen-age daughter died when she was ejected from
the rear seat of a motor vehicle when not restrained by a seat
belt.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
1760 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred
to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Transportation,



                                   ______________________________
                                   KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair