Bill 45 and Resolution 08-148

Maybe too late, but I encourage anyone on Oahu to submit written testimony in favor (or maybe, not) for the following bill and resolution...

The first is:

BILL 45 (2008) – RELATING TO TRAFFIC ADMINISTRATION. Permitting the Council to require by ordinance, the location, selection, installation and maintenance of a traffic control device in certain situations. (Bill 45 passed first reading 6/4/08)

The second is:

RESOLUTION 08-148 – REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES TO RESTART THE CITY TRAFFIC CALMING PROGRAM AND IMPLEMENT TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES. Requesting the Department of Transportation Services to restart the city Traffic Calming Program and process and implement appropriate measures when requested via neighborhood boards, funded by the council, and determined to be appropriate to increase safety in residential neighborhoods, and review and improve the traffic calming process.

The issue is, basically, who decides where and when to install traffic lights and traffic calming measures (speed bumps, etc.). Should such decisions be made by the City, or should they be made by local neighborhood boards (who presumably KNOW the dangers of local streets, etc.)? If you support the above bill and resolution, then you support local control and decision-making over these issues.

I wrote the following letter in like 5 minutes (thus the lack of coherence). But use it as a kind of template. If you would like to submit a similar letter, go to http://www.honolulu.gov/council/emailtpw.htm to email your thoughts.

Here is my letter:

Dear Members of the Honolulu City Council,

There are no longer safe communities for pedestrians.

Although I can recall bicycling across the length and breadth of Mililani in complete safety, nowadays, I cannot trust my children riding their bicycles much less playing in the street just in front of my own suburban Mililani home.

Unfortunately, speed has become endemic to our driving culture. It is no longer just the occasional irresponsible teenager who tests the limits of his vehicle on narrow streets. Everyone is in a hurry, and pedestrians are increasingly seen as intruders that drivers have to impatiently tolerate.

This is why it is vital that we support Bill 45 and Resolution 08-148.

In the face of this hurried culture stiff penalties are not enough. Stoplights, speed bumps, and other “traffic calming” measures are necessary to safeguard specific regions and streets across the island. Who better to decide where such measures should be employed than the local residents who are witness to dangerous speeding in front of their own homes?

Exclusive top-down controls over such decisions are illogical and inefficient. When will a given street be considered worthy of a traffic calming measure by the City? Will a certain quota of accidents, pedestrian fatalities even, be necessary?

Even one accident is too much. Safety should be our number one priority, and it should be decided by the very people, the pedestrians, who know the conditions of their local streets.

We may not be able to reverse our speeding culture, but at least we can intelligently mandate and create relatively safe havens, streets for our children to ride and play on, as we did when we were children.

Thank you,
Randy Otaka