PEDESTRIANS BEWARE

PEDESTRIANS BEWARE!  

Waikiki, Honolulu and in fact, the entire island of Oahu, is one of the WORST places in the entire United States for pedestrians hit by cars.  It seems that every week, sometimes more, there is an article in the local paper talking about the latest causality.  Recently, an entire family was mowed down at a bus stop with 2 fatalities.  Often the victims are elderly, slow walking individuals.  The drivers are either unaware, out to lunch, drunk, texting...you know the drill.  Never before has the old expression to "LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU CROSS THE STREET" been more appropriate and timely.

One of the biggest problems is that people crossing the street rely on the green walk signal to go.  They don't look to see if someone is running the light or turning without looking.  They simply step off the curve, into the street, assuming all is well.  Big mistake!  Waikiki is a busy place with a lot of traffic, almost all the time.  Most drivers are extra courteous here, in fact, if you drive in Hawaii, you will notice all the Aloha.  Other drivers will actually let you get over in front of them, will almost always give a wave or "Chaka" hand signal if you let them into traffic or let them cut in front of you.  Coming from Alaska, this was a pleasant change of pace.  But not all drivers practice Aloha...and those are the ones you must be on the lookout for.

We live a block from the beach.  In order to get there, we leave our building, walk about 50' to the corner, and have to cross one of the 2 busiest streets in Waikiki.  There is a constant flow of workers, residents, beach goers (hauling rafts, chairs, umbrellas and other misc. beach necessities) crossing this street in both directions.  There is a major cross walk with about an 18 second blinking hand to allow for people to make their way.  Cars coming down our street (a one way street heading toward the beach) often want to turn left onto the busy street that people are crossing.  They must wait for pedestrians to clear the sidewalk (at least they are supposed to) before the left turn.  I can't tell you how many times the cars try to go in between the pedestrians or zoom thru narrowly missing people.  This is literally a daily occurrence.  The other day someone was waiting to turn and another car zoomed around the stopped car and plowed thru the intersection, missing an entire Japanese family by inches!  It was unbelievable.

Just a quick google of accidents in Waikiki gave me these partial results:

So if your planning a trip to the islands, please be extra cautious and look, look and look again.   Pedestrians getting hit by cars hardly ever ends well.