State lawmakers are pushing for stricter penalties on speeding, which has contributed to nearly half of all highway deaths and accounted for 236 fatalities over the past five years, according to the state Department of Transportation.
In 2023 alone, speeding played a role in about 60% of fatal traffic crashes.
During a town hall meeting Tuesday at Prince David Kawananakoa Middle School, residents of District 27 — Pacific Heights, Nuuanu and Liliha — voiced concerns about speeding on Pali Highway and in residential areas.
State Rep. Jenna Takenouchi, who represents the district, invited the Honolulu Police Department to weigh in. HPD officials noted that while the department frequently receives complaints about speeding in the area, about 95% of drivers caught speeding are residents of the neighborhood.
Honolulu police officials said residents who want stricter enforcement of speeding laws must be prepared for the consequences. They noted that while many call for more action, some later complain when they receive citations themselves. Officers emphasized that speeding is speeding, no matter how little a driver exceeds the limit.
Takenouchi expressed strong support for legislation this year aimed at imposing stricter penalties for speeding, which threatens public safety and contributes to excessive noise for residents.
House Bill 54, along with its companion Senate Bill 97, seeks to increase penalties for excessive speeding, elevating the charge to a Class C felony for a third or subsequent offense. The bills also give the court authority to order the forfeiture of the vehicle involved in the offense as part of the sentencing.
SB 97 was introduced by state Sen. Brandon Elefante (D, Aiea-Pacific Palisades-Pearl City), who also chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Elefante said he “constantly receives calls on excessive speeding” and has urged law enforcement to take action by citing and arresting those who violate speed limits.
He said that while law enforcement has been active in addressing the issue, speeding in his district persists, particularly from Friday to Sunday, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.
The bill proposes that drivers exceeding the speed limit by 30 mph or more, or driving over 80 mph regardless of the limit, would face fines, license suspension, driver retraining and surcharges.
For a first offense, penalties include a fine between $500 and $1,000, a 30-day license suspension and either community service or up to five days of imprisonment. Subsequent offenses within five years would result in higher fines, longer suspensions and more community service or imprisonment.
Three-time offenders within five years could face a Class C felony, license revocation and vehicle forfeiture.
Under current law, excessive speeding is classified as a misdemeanor if a driver exceeds the speed limit by 30 mph or more, often considered a petty misdemeanor. Most speeding violations, however, are treated as civil infractions and do not carry misdemeanor charges.
“This is constant. This goes on almost every weekend,” Elefante said. “We have constituents who call 911, we have HPD that goes out and conducts their investigation and enforcement. It’s speeding, it’s noise but it’s also a danger to the community and those who need to use our roadways to get to their destination safely.”
Elefante shared that over the last weekend in January, HPD informed his office of two arrests for racing on the freeways of Pearl City and Aiea.
Furthermore, between Jan. 14 and 17, additional enforcement actions led to more arrests and citations related to racing and excessive speeding.
“There were four arrests, two for excessive speaking and reckless driving without a license,” he said. “Four citations and two reckless driving without a license, excessive speeding.”
HPD reported a slight increase in speeding violations over the past two years, with 25,700 offenses recorded in 2023 and 27,252 in 2024.
As of Jan. 29, HPD has already documented 1,503 violations for the year.
Standard speeding continues to be the most common offense, with 21,172 citations issued in 2023, rising slightly to 21,251 in 2024.
Excessive speeding saw a significant increase, with more than 5,000 citations given out in 2024, while reckless-driving violations rose to 602.
Racing offenses decreased to 247 in 2024 from 341 in 2023. The year-to-date statistics as of Jan. 29 showed that HPD issued over 180 citations for reckless driving and eight for racing, excessive-speeding citations are close to 200 and standard speeding violations already surpassed 1,000.
The city Department of Transportation Services receives about 2,000 complaints annually from across Oahu, with roughly half related to speeding concerns, officials said.
As a first step, the city asks HPD to increase speed enforcement in problem areas. If that does not resolve the issue, speed trailers — portable radar devices that display drivers’ speeds — are temporarily deployed as a short-term deterrent, though they can remain in place for only a few weeks.
For persistent speeding problems, midterm solutions are implemented, including road striping to create additional shoulder or parking lanes, which visually narrow the roadway to encourage slower driving. Additional signage and solar-powered flashing pedestrian beacons near schools also may be installed to improve safety.
Long-term measures require funding and construction, such as installing speed humps, median and curb modifications and roundabouts, which are larger infrastructure projects that often involve contractors and take more time to complete.
State Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said the state has installed 258 speed humps, which he credits with reducing overall crashes by one-third and major crashes by two-thirds.
Since 2019, Sniffen said, a location that previously saw 25 fatalities now has only one following the installation of a speed hump.
Sniffen said about 100 people die on Hawaii’s freeways annually, with speeding as a leading factor and excessive speeding accounting for 30% of those fatalities.
Both city and state officials are exploring ways to address the speeding problem in Hawaii. However, they urge residents and community members to take action by adhering to posted speed limit signs, as outlined in each county’s ordinance.
