STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1173-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1692

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1692, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

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

(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) 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; and

(4) Provide certain exemptions from passenger restrictions for pickup trucks.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition; AAA Hawaiʻi; and Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that individuals stopped on the roadside face significant danger from passing vehicles, with thousands of fatalities nationwide occurring in these circumstances. Your Committee further finds that the existing "move over" law applies only to emergency vehicles, leaving ordinary motorists, commercial drivers, and roadside workers without the same level of protection despite similar safety risks. Your Committee believes that expanding slow down and lane change requirements to all stationary vehicles and strengthening pickup truck passenger safety rules will reduce preventable roadside injuries and fatalities by creating clearer, more consistent roadway safety expectations for drivers.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the measure applies when stationary vehicles are stopped on the roadway, shoulder, or roadside;

(2) Including vehicular warning signs in the list of warning signs to which a driver should slow down and change lanes;

(3) Repealing language that detailed behavior for determining reasonableness and prudence;

(4) Clarifying that drivers should change lanes if possible and safe to do so, rather than only if necessary;

(5) Repealing language stating that a driver move two lanes over, if possible; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1692, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1692, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair