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Honolulu’s speed camera program is now issuing speeding citations, but Hawaiʻi’s transportation department has ticketed only a small fraction of the drivers captured by the cameras since the rollout moved from warnings to enforcement. In the state’s first four months of speeding citations after formal ticketing began, the department issued 17 speeding tickets, according to court and state records reviewed by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed by The Associated Press. Two of those tickets were dismissed after motorists contested them in court.
State officials say the low ticket volume reflects an operational decision tied to how many citations courts can process. More than a year before the speeding citations began, the Hawaiʻi judiciary raised concerns that a surge in camera-generated tickets could overwhelm the police and court systems and the judiciary’s information systems, and asked lawmakers to delay implementation until 2027 so a plan could be developed to handle the increase.
Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation officials have described the enforcement approach as deliberately focused on the “worst of the worst” speeders. Transportation director Ed Sniffen told lawmakers earlier this year that his team has worked with the judiciary so it would not “blow up their systems,” and that the rollout plan is to add speed enforcement at a pace of about 10 new Honolulu intersections every year.
Even under that staged expansion, the department faces timelines and staffing requirements. State law requires that camera-generated citations be sent out within 10 days, a process that includes review of videos and photos by Honolulu Police Department’s traffic division after preliminary screening by a third-party vendor. Maj. Herbert Soria of HPD’s Traffic Division said in an email that three personnel are assigned to review citations and that staffing is adequate for now, while noting staffing needs could be reassessed as the program develops.
The department’s speeding threshold has also been constrained. Sniffen and department spokespeople declined to disclose what the agency’s threshold is for which camera-caught speeders receive citations, but court dockets show that motorists fined so far had been clocked at more than 20 mph over the posted limit. Hawaiʻi law allows citations starting at 11 mph over the posted speed limit, and Sniffen said the current threshold is intended to ensure only the most dangerous drivers are targeted; he also said that threshold would drop as the department’s ability to process more tickets expands. Officials also said the department is not limiting red-light infractions as it manages the speed citation workload.
While speeding citations are moving slowly, Hawaiʻi’s camera program is also being positioned for larger growth. Sniffen told the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 15 that the department expects speeding citations to reach more than 60,000 per month at full capacity from 17 cameras at 10 Honolulu intersections. Officials said they are continuing traditional enforcement as well: Honolulu police normally issue between 3,000 and 4,000 speeding-related citations per month, according to legislative reports.
Six weeks after speed camera citations began issuing on Dec. 15, the department awarded a 10-year contract worth approximately $160 million to Verra Mobility, an Arizona-based company, “to expand, operate and maintain the camera program,” the report said. In the same period, a judicial spokesman confirmed that the courts had been working with the transportation department to integrate the automated citations into the judiciary’s information system more efficiently, a process that had previously been completed manually. Brooks Baehr said in an email that the judiciary has been able to process citations generated by the automated red-light and speed camera systems, but that a significant increase in citation volume would still present operational challenges.
The report also describes the camera program’s checkered history and the political sensitivity around it. Alex Guirguis, a co-founder of the Seattle-based company Off The Record, said the structure can create a mismatch between the two branches of government when automated cameras generate citations at volumes court systems are not designed to handle, arguing that automated systems can issue far more tickets per day than a typical officer. He pointed to court backlog outcomes in other jurisdictions and cited an example from New York, where he said resolving a traffic ticket can take more than three years. Guirguis said his company’s data show automated ticketing has created a backlog in court systems and that other states have at times reduced administrative strain by throwing out tickets within a set timeframe.
Supporters of red-light camera enforcement say it can reduce some kinds of crashes, and the story cited research including findings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that red-light cameras can reduce roadway fatalities and injuries by between 20% and 37%, depending on the study. The report also noted that reviews have found evidence camera enforcement can increase rear-end crash risk in some cases, with newer vehicle sensor technology reducing those impacts.
In Hawaiʻi, red-light cameras have been operating at 10 Honolulu intersections since 2022, and speed enforcement began as part of a new phase on Nov. 1. The report said that during earlier years as cameras were brought online, the state issued 1,800 red-light citations, and that between Nov. 1 and Feb. 24 it issued 2,041 red-light citations to registered owners after camera captures. In addition, the department said police and transportation agencies consider motorists running red lights major contributors to Hawaiʻi’s accident rate, causing 1,900 crashes between 2015 and 2020, according to the transportation department.
The report said the program also has produced mixed distribution patterns. It said incidents at four Honolulu intersections were responsible for more than half of red-light running citations during the first 116 days of expanded camera enforcement, with the McCully Street and Algaroba Street intersection in Mōʻiliʻi generating 372 red-light signal citations. It also described how the Pali Highway and School Street intersection generated half of the speeding citations during the first four months of the program, with that location’s speed limit dropping from 30 mph to 25 mph. Court records cited in the story showed eight drivers there were ticketed at speeds more than double the posted limits.
Civil liberties advocates and some lawmakers have criticized red-light camera enforcement on equity grounds. The report said an American Civil Liberties Union report released last week argued red-light cameras can disproportionately impact low-income households, and it cited the ACLU’s suggestion that camera programs include provisions directing some revenue toward road safety measures that may not have received sufficient funding. In the Jan. 15 hearing, Sen. Donna Kim raised concerns from constituents who said they felt “picked on,” noting that six of the 10 cameras currently active, including the Pali Highway/School Road intersection, are in her Kalihi district. Sniffen said the department’s data drove the selection of the locations.
The report said the speed camera program’s slow speeding-ticket pace has contributed to financial uncertainty for the state. It said the program had been intended to be financially self-sustaining for at least a decade with revenue from citations covering operating costs, but with citation fees trickling in more slowly, the transportation department is seeking $6.6 million in state funding in the next fiscal year to pay for camera upgrades and improvements to the court information system.