• Driving dangers are reflections of change
Driving dangers are reflections of change
The pace of traffic deaths and traffic accidents seems to be accelerating along with the pace of development on Kaua’i.
While aloha is still found on our roads, especially when it comes to allowing cars into a busy lane of traffic, the number of dangerous driving situations one faces traveling Kaua’i’s roads seems to be growing.
In Lihu’e some drivers are treating Rice Street as an extension of a highway. It can be dangerous for pedestrians crossing the street in a crosswalk, and drivers pulling into the street from a traffic light or stop sign; both are finding it harder to get across Rice Street due to the speed of vehicles zipping down the town’s widened main street.
Speeding drivers coming to and from the North Shore are creating dangerous situations when they pass, often driving well over the speed limit posted on the highway. While this problem isn’t anything new, what is new is the mass of traffic found on this section of road most of the day and night, making high-speed passing more dangerous due to roads that are more crowded.
Being tailgated because you’re doing the speed limit rankles those used to Kaua’i-style driving. Besides irritating others, which could lead to road rage, tailgating leads to serious accidents and raises the temperatures of those being tailgated.
Perhaps the most obvious unsafe driving practice is the running of red lights. Pieces of headlights and tail lights, and other debris, from cars clipped while racing to beat a red light line main intersections across the Island.
An apropos bumper sticker that hits on this issue is seen occasionally on Kaua’i, and states: “Slow down this ain’t the Mainland.” This tropical philosophical statement is aimed at local drivers as well as new arrivals from the Mainland and elsewhere. It means that driving fast from place to place, to the point of being unsafe and inconsiderate of other drivers and pedestrians, takes away from the rural Polynesian ambiance of Kaua’i.
Unfortunately, finding Mainland-style freeway driving more common on Kaua’i is one of the prices paid as the Island becomes more developed.
Kaua’i drivers should catch their breath, the pace of life as shown on Kaua’i’s roads doesn’t have to be that found on the LA freeways. Slow down, enjoy the scenery and spread aloha on our roads; riding on somebody’s tail, passing illegally to gain two minutes into Lihu’e and driving aggressively aren’t worth the changes this is bringing to our island society, not to mention the unnecessary traffic deaths and injuries that might result if this driving trend accelerates.
