HONOLULU (KHON2) — Officials are reaching out to community leaders to try and help spread the message for safety on our roads. They’re hoping by getting closer to drivers, more people will make better decisions.
The numbers are staggering.
There have been 98 traffic deaths in Hawaii so far this year – just four less than all of last year. 65 of them on Oahu – more than double the same time last year. Transportation officials say it’s time for this to stop.
“We’re seeing more excessive speeding, more distracted driving, more people who are driving under the influence,” said Ed Sniffen, state Department of Transporation Director. “All of those things are decisions that people are making to put others at risk.”
The state Department of Transportation hosted a two-day summit with its partners, as well as community members, to brainstorm ways to make our roads safer.
“Anything we can do to bring the community together, stakeholders, decision makers, and policy makers together to make those changes, we’re a big support of that,” said Travis Counsell, Hawaii Bicycling League executive Director.
Transportation officials say they meet with their stakeholders regularly, but wanted the community members to be involved in this summit because of what’s going on on our roads.
“If we do it by infrastructure, it’s gonna take years and years and it’s gonna take a whole bunch of money,” said Sniffen. “If we do it as a community, to make a decision not to do these really stupid things on the road, we can solve it tomorrow.”
Community members say they can help spread the word about road safety. But they can also let city and state officials be aware of issues that they might be missing.
“Paying more attention to crosswalks, making sure they painted, making sure all the signage are visible, and making one way, one way,” said Chu Lan Shubert-Kwock, Downtown-Chinatown Neighborhood Board Member. “And to correct sign height. And lettering. Lettering is too small. I think we need more visibility.”
Sniffen says the majority of these deaths involve a decision – whether it be speeding, using your phone, or driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol.
“If we can cut it in half, that’d be great, 50 people go home,” said Sniffen. “If we can cut it down more than that because we stop making these poor decisions, even better. 92 Percent of the people are because of poor decisions. We can cut that down to 90 people going home.”
“Just remember that we’re all people, that’s the baseline,” said Counsell. “We don’t want somebody not coming home tomorrow because of somebody’s actions. So you know ,take that extra responsibility and share the road with aloha.”