Lawmakers balance island tradition against rise in traffic dangers
Hawaii has raised the minimum age for riding in pickup truck beds to 16, responding to growing safety concerns as roads across the islands have become busier and faster, particularly on Oahu, where the capital city of Honolulu is located.
In parts of Hawaii it is common to see people riding in the beds of pickups, often along country highways between mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The practice is widely regarded as part of island culture, especially in rural and agricultural communities.
“It’s a cultural thing, especially in a small, agricultural community,” said Kimeona Kane, who grew up in Waimanalo on Oahu’s windward coast. Kane said he would jump into the bed of a pickup truck as a kid to get to baseball or football practice, and that nothing felt more like island life than rolling through his coastal town “fully exposed to the sun and saltwater air.”
Kane said he now allows his family to ride in truck beds only on back roads, and mostly in Waimanalo, where he continues to live.
The new law follows years of debate over how to limit the dangers of riding in cargo areas that lack seats and seat belts while preserving a custom many residents see as a hallmark of growing up in Hawaii. The measure was prompted in part by a crash earlier this year on a Honolulu freeway in which a woman riding in a truck bed was ejected after a vehicle rear-ended the pickup.
Under existing Hawaii law, passengers were permitted to ride in the load-carrying area of a pickup truck only when the vehicle’s interior lacked sufficient seating. State law already prohibited any person from standing in a truck bed or cargo area while the vehicle was in operation.
Parts of Hawaii, especially Oahu, have become more urban in recent decades. As roads have grown busier and faster, concern has increased about the dangers of riding in an open truck bed without seats or seat belts.