Senator looks to raise minimum age for riding in truck beds

HONOLULU (AP) — After three men riding in the bed of a pickup truck were killed on Maui, one state legislator has renewed resolve to change the laws governing such cargo.

KITV-TV reports (https://bit.ly/1J1EkcL ) that Sen. Clarence Nishihara was one of the senators behind a bill this year that would have banned people under the age of 18 from riding in the back of a pickup. The bill failed.

Currently riding in truck beds is legal if the passenger is at least 12 and all seats in the cab are full.

Nishihara says truck beds should be used for moving household stuff and taking trash to the dump, not a means of travel. But he says an all-out ban on riding in truck beds would be an even tougher sell in the legislature.