STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3277

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1692

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 1692, H.D. 2, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require drivers approaching stationary vehicles displaying warning signals to slow down and make a lane change if possible and safe to do so;

(2) Prohibit the operation of a pickup truck with a passenger seated in the bed or load-carrying area on roadways with posted speed limits of forty-six miles per hour or higher and roadways with three or more lanes traveling in the same direction;

(3) Provide certain exemptions from passenger restrictions; and

(4) Increase the minimum age to ride in the bed or load-carrying area of a pickup truck while in operation from twelve years of age to eighteen years of age.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, Aloha Independent Living Hawaii, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, AAA Hawaiʻi, and one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that while existing law requires drivers operating motor vehicles to slow down and move over when approaching certain emergency vehicles, this law is not applicable to any non-emergency vehicle stopped on the shoulder or roadside. Your Committee further finds that passengers riding in the bed or load-carrying area of pick-up trucks are especially vulnerable to serious injury or death. This measure will strengthen move-over regulations and pickup-bed restrictions to reduce traffic-related fatalities and injuries, improving roadway safety statewide.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a driver approaching a stopped emergency or stationary vehicle shall make a lane change to an adjacent lane only if it is safe and possible to do so and that the driver shall come to a complete stop if necessary; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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. 1692, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1692, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair