Excessive speeding bill gives mandatory jail time, possible forfeiture of vehicle for repeat offenders

Yahoo

05-04-2025

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Our roads are not a racetrack. That's the message from Honolulu police as they say they're catching more drivers going well above the speed limit. Lawmakers are pushing a bill that'll try to help the problem.
Police say they've heard every excuse in the book when they stop people for speeding.
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'I've heard everything from, I really had to use the bathroom to I was late, I know some of the interesting ones where I just tuned my car and I was trying it out,' said Maj. James Slayter of the Honolulu Police Deptartment Traffic Division. 'You know, they come up with some interesting ones, but ultimately there is no excuse.'
Last weekend, Honolulu police arrested several drivers going over 100 miles per hour. The fastest was 152.
'So as a community, we got to come together and try to figure out how to stop this,' Slayter said.
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They might be getting some help soon. A bill is moving through the legislature that would make mandatory jail time and possible forfeiture of the vehicle if caught for excessive speeding three times in five years.
'And hopefully, that sends a message to these folks who are violating the law, that, hey, this is not acceptable, this is unsafe and this is very dangerous,' said Sen. Brandon Elefante, the Public Safety Committee chair.
Excessive speeding is anything 30 miles over the posted speed limit or going faster than 80 miles per hour anywhere.'I think we constantly are feeling it throughout Oahu specifically, that one person's actions has consequences upon everyone,' said Rep. Darius Kila, the Transportation Committee chair. 'You look at the incident that occurred in Nanakuli just a couple days ago that one vehicular traffic accident, you stalled Farrington Highway for four hours.'
The bill originally called for the third excessive speeding offense to be a Class C felony, which has been kept a misdemeanor for now.
Honolulu Police say they've actually doubled the amount of solo bike officers on their nighttime enforcement patrols to help catch excessive speeders. They say they will continue to do so to help stop this problem.
Police say last weekend's arrests came thanks to a tip from the public. They ask if you see anyone racing, call 911.
'Getting a citation, getting arrested, that might be the best thing that could have happened to you for that night,' Slayter said. 'Because the alternative, you could get seriously injured. You could die. You could kill somebody else and spend the rest of your life in jail.'
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