Runners, take care on bypass road
Regarding the May 22 article “Red Bull: Kauai Marathon one of the best,” runners this coming September 1 are advised to tape ankles sufficiently to ensure they don’t sprain/break an ankle running on the Koloa bypass road portion of the race … large numbers of broken, cracked and depressed road sections. Also, there are rough and uneven patched areas which, granted, are few and far apart, as the vast majority of road damage has been ignored. Words for the wise marathon runners.
Vince Jones, Koloa
Too many speeders a growing threat
We live on Kamalu Road, which is used by locals as a bypass for the Kapaa traffic. We get speeders 24/7, and the speeds are sometimes in excess of 75 mph. We have no sidewalks. I walk my dog there every day, and I actually walk on the road because I have back, hip and knee problems, and I am older and afraid of falling. People yell at me to get off the road. Others slow down to pass and then gun their engines when they are right next to me, which terrifies my dog. Some look angry or annoyed when they have to stop because a car is coming the other way.
The thing that ticks me off the most is that the whole road is about 2 miles long and includes sharp curves and a one-lane bridge, so the straight part is about 1-1/2 miles. Even at 75, how much time can one save?
I have contacted the police and the mayor, and yet the problem continues. I agree that ticketing speeders on my road would pay for several more police officers. Setting up a speed trap once a week (preferably during rush hour) would provide a huge amount of money.
Speed is a problem everywhere on the island. If I attempt to do 25 mph on local roads, I am frequently passed on double yellow lines, or tailgated. Kuhio Highway has a 40 mph speed limit but few obey it.
And I had the exact same reaction to the “Click it or Ticket” campaign. That is for safety, presumably, yet little is done to curb the extremely unsafe practice of speeding.
I don’t know if the mayor or the councilmembers or the chief of police read these letters. I can only hope that they do and that they address this problem before someone is injured or killed on Kamalu Road.
Donna Carsten, Kapaa
