Critics Decry New Law That Bans Part of 'Hawaii Culture'

It's common to see people riding in the beds of pickups in Hawaii, often along country highways sandwiched between towering verdant mountains and the glassy blue expanse of the Pacific. "It's a cultural thing, especially in a small, agricultural community," says Kimeona Kane, who would jump into the bed of a pickup truck as a kid to get to baseball or football practice. But as parts of Hawaii have become more urban and roads busier and faster, especially on Oahu, where the capital, Honolulu, is located, concern has grown about the dangers of riding in an open truck bed without seats or seatbelts.

Lawmakers tried for years to put limits on the practice before passing a bill this spring that raises the minimum legal age for riding in truck beds from 12 to 16. Democratic Gov. Josh Green quietly signed it into law last month. Green has firsthand experience with the issue. In 2023, he was traveling in a vehicle behind a pickup when a 25-year-old man was ejected from the bed. Green, a physician, sprang into action to render aid. "I would prefer that nobody ride in a truck bed, because people need to be belted in," he said in a statement at the time.

In a state where many songs romanticize pickup trucks on oversize wheels and dusty roads, it's easy to idealize island truck-riding. For Kane, who's Native Hawaiian, riding in a truck bed is a big part of local identity, though it's not specific to an Indigenous way of life. "It's not Hawaiian culture," he said. "It's Hawaii culture." "It takes us back to even the plantation days," he adds. Even today, some people ride in truck beds because they don't have any other option, state Rep. Darius Kila said, explaining he knows of large families who only have a pickup truck that doesn't have enough seating in the cab for everyone.

Nearly 30 states and the District of Columbia have laws with restrictions on riding in a pickup truck bed, but each has exceptions for when it's allowed, including farm use, parades, and emergencies, says David Kidd of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Hawaii's law includes the same exceptions and allows those over 16 to ride in the bed only if there's no room in the truck's cab. Kila believes someday Hawaii will ban the practice altogether. "And it will probably be met with resistance, and then 20 years later after the fact, it will just be like, wow, we should have done that sooner," he says. More here.