KAPA‘A — The goal was to impress upon 800 drivers along Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a the dangers of drinking and driving Friday afternoon, when over a dozen youngsters lined the road with homemade posters.
They quit counting at 1,300 vehicles in a 45-minute period, they said.
The youngsters with the Boys and Girls Club of Kapa‘a had the incentive of a new iPod that went to the poster judged best, said Mardi Harlow, a drug- and alcohol-prevention educator with Alu Like.
Their further intent was to impress upon the impressionable the importance of stopping underage drinking, which leads to the possibility of lifelong drinking, she said.
Kaua‘i Police Department Patrol Services Bureau acting Capt. Mark Scribner participated, before having to go to Waimea for another event with dreams of later attending the Kaua‘i High-Waimea football game at Vidinha Stadium in Lihu‘e.
The site of the poster-waving was the triangular park across from the Pono Kai Resort.
Most motorists passed by with aloha, honking, waving and flashing the shaka sign, Harlow said.
Another of the adult chaperones said she was surprised to see how many of the drivers were in traffic while talking on cell phones.
Around 16 people participated in the event, which Scribner said is part of a quarterly public-awareness campaign coordinated by Alu Like.
Serena Brier, 10, a fifth-grader at Kapa‘a Elementary School, won an iPod for the best poster, a colorful effort with a simple message: “Don’t Drink and Drive.”
Do the roadside efforts actually discourage people from drinking and driving?
“They raise awareness, and hopefully it’s a deterrent,” Scribner said.
