HONOLULU (KHON2) — Oahu’s red light cameras will not just catch red light runners — they will also flag speeders starting on March 1.

A warning period begins before citations are issued and KHON2 found out what drivers need to know.

Red light cameras have been issuing citations at 10 Oahu intersections since November 2022. The pilot program resulted in a 69% drop in crashes at those locations and the Hawaii Department of Transportation hopes that expanding the cameras to catch speeders will have a similar result.

“That was the whole reason why we implemented this program, is to see a reduction in crashes and hopefully we don’t see any citations,” said HDOT Communications Manager Shelly Kunishige. “We know that speeds affect the mortality of crashes and ideally everybody follows the speed limits.”

Signage is already posted around the 10 red light cameras to let drivers know that they are entering a surveilled area. The devices already track speed by radar but they previously only had authority to issue red light citations.

“It’s just the click of a switch. This is not new technology. We future-proofed the red light cameras that can also do speed at the same time,” said House Transportation Committee Chair Rep. Darius Kila.

“The cameras are measuring basically by radar, the miles per hour that people are traveling through the intersections,” Kunishige said.

Honolulu police only have a couple of officers that man the red light cameras. Rep. Kila said he has a bill in the Legislature that would approve more funds to make that process joint effort with the Department of Law Enforcement.

“To look at the citations, justify if it’s warranted or not, but also streamline and exploit this process much quicker,” Rep. Kila said. “Currently right now we have one or two people going over several thousand citations or infractions. But if we can streamline dispositions and even just add ten more bodies, be much more efficient.”

The cams will send out written warnings to drivers who go more than five miles an hour over the speed limit until April 29 and citations will be sent out on April 30.

Honolulu police said they have vetted and issued almost 43,000 red light citations since the pilot began in 2022.