Hawaiʻi May Add A Test To Driver’s License Renewals As Traffic Deaths Climb
Drivers would have to take written knowledge tests during their license renewals, something Hawaiʻi stopped requiring almost three decades ago.
Drivers renewing their licenses may have to take refresher written tests in the future as lawmakers brainstorm how to improve road safety after a harrowing year of statewide traffic fatalities.
Mandatory written tests on renewal aren’t commonly done around the United States. California got rid of the requirement for older drivers in fall 2024, and Hawaiʻi — which requires licenses to be renewed every two years, four years or eight years, depending on the driver’s age — ended the practice in 1997.
Honolulu City Council member Radiant Cordero and state Rep. Darius Kila want to revisit the renewal tests, with a first discussion slated for a Thursday council committee meeting. Cordero envisions the renewal tests as refreshers that would take about 10 minutes to complete, though in Kila’s mind they would be more substantial than that.
Kila said Hawaiʻi’s growing population keeps absorbing more people from more places, not all of which share the same rules of the road. He said that means the state needs to work harder to ensure everyone is on the same page — especially after 129 people died on Hawaiʻi roads last year, an 18-year high.
“I think people are realizing now more than ever how much they interact with our roadways, both as a pedestrian and a motorist alike,” Kila said. He said he’s working with Sen. Brandon Elefante on a bill this session that would update driver’s license procedures, part of a package of bills requested by the governor’s administration.
Kila, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, doesn’t think more testing alone will prevent future traffic deaths. It would be one potential solution, he said, and it’s worth pursuing alongside other changes.
It’s unclear how effective mandatory renewal tests would be at curbing traffic deaths. When legislators considered getting rid of mandatory renewal tests nearly three decades ago, a committee report indicates the City and County of Honolulu testified that data showed the “frequency of renewal testing does not change driving habits nor lower accident rates.”
Driver licensing offices, meanwhile, have long been frustratingly packed with customers. That was the rationale in 1997 when Senate Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee co-chairs Sen. Norman Sakamoto and Sen. Cal Kawamoto introduced their successful bill to remove the renewal test requirement.
Sen. Lorraine Inouye, the current chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, isn’t keen about reinstating mandatory renewal tests. “If it’s a renewal,” she said, “and we don’t have infractions, why do we have to go to that extreme?”
Inouye said she could support a version that mandates renewal tests only for drivers who have “lots and lots of infractions.” In California, which recently got rid of mandatory renewal testing for drivers over the age of 70, people still need to take a written renewal test if, for example, they have had at least one accident per year over two or three years or a recent license suspension for driving under the influence.
“We are eliminating the written knowledge test for those without traffic violations on their record to improve customer service,” California DMV director Steve Gordon said in a statement at the time of the change. “If thousands fewer people need to visit the DMV, or can spend less time in an office, the people who need to take care of their business in one of our offices can be better served.”
At the county level, Cordero introduced resolutions asking state lawmakers to consider mandating renewal tests again and to include pedestrian safety and bicyclist rights and interactions among driver education requirements, citing last year’s spate of roadway deaths.
While Cordero also supports a variety of tools for making the road safer, including narrower lanes to slow traffic and restricting parking away from crosswalks to improve visibility, she said license renewals are a rare opportunity to force people to take note when the rules of the road change.
“By doing a knowledge test and making sure they’re aware of it,” she said, “that’s a behavior shift.”
Her resolutions will be up for discussion during the council’s Government Efficiency and Customer Services Committee meeting Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
