Long overdue MAHALO
A big MAHALO to the County of Kaua‘i Agency Transportation, Gerald Nakamura (Paratransit Operations) and the Paratransit drivers ( Eddie, Willy, John, Mario )and dispatchers (Michelle, Averie) working with ALOHA on a daily, consistent basis for our Kaua‘i kupuna.
I am a caregiver for my 92-year-old mother who moved from O‘ahu almost two years ago. These past six months using the Paratransit has been a God-send. In the morning, the drivers are diligent about being on time, displaying “akahai /kindness” and tenderness when handling loading and offloading of our elderly. I know she is well cared for and often hear of her admiration for their thoughtfulness in tiny gestures as reaching out a hand to go down the stairs, fastening a seat belt.
On behalf of Ronella …Mahalo nui loa and know that your exceptional work is noticed!
Roberta Zarbaugh, Wailua Homesteads
Heavy duty trucks require evryone’s attention
On Monday, Nov. 1, there was a three-vehicle accident on Kuhio Highway which lead to a death of a passenger in one of the vehicles.
My understanding is that a truck hit the vehicle on the backside causing it to spin out unto the oncoming traffic that caused the oncoming vehicle to hit the spinning vehicle.
My plead is to the truck drivers (rubbish trucks, semi, delivery, to include over size vehicles) to slow down and pay attention. To the truck drivers, “remember you get paid by the hour and not on how fast you get there!” Kaua‘i’s highways and roads are not designed with a truck lane.
Also, vehicle drivers: Do not make any sudden stops or movements such as pulling out in front of a huge oncoming vehicle at intersections/driveways. It would be a guaranteed hit cause these heavy vehicles (trucks) will take some time to stop.
Let’s all drive safely on the highway/roadway and be alert!
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
Wonderful Round-About
Lavish praise for the WONDERFUL ROUND-ABOUT at Kealia.
The inside stone part with plants is beautiful.
The outside parts are also beautiful.
Traffic whizzes around, no problem.
Now you don’t have to take your life in your hands as you pull out into dangerous traffic!
It probably cost too much, but who cares?
Thank you for all the workers who built the WONDERFUL ROUND-ABOUT!
(You are probably relieved I didn’t send in another Pandemic Pop Quiz.)
Molly Jones, Kealia
Thank you for the note about heavy trucks,,,, so many times these big heavy trucks are just going so fast through the main streets Lihue. They need to go slow…. they are just accidents waiting to occur by their fast driving- like you said they need to allow for extra time to stop for sudden events that occur with traffic!!! Please people lets start reporting these large trucks driving too fast to their companies!!!!
Howard; How do you know the truck came over and hit the rear of the car? It wasn’t clear from the story I read. Maybe the car tried to move back over into the slow lane before clearing the front of the truck and struck the truck. Maybe they were both in the same lane and the truck rear-ended the car. Let’s not assume anything before we have all of the facts.
I would wait for the facts before passing judgement on our truck drivers. Too many times they are cut off because cars do not want to be behind them. I would also like to see how fast all parties involved were going that day, it’s a 40 MPH speed limit through that section of road yet the average speed now seems to be 60 MPH, and the other party was from California where they constantly go freeway speeds. Let’s get the facts before we decide who was at fault.
Are you driving on the same island? The traffic is backed up from Anahola to the roundabout. Every afternoon. Hello Mcfly
Iʻm not sure if large trucks and drivers are being paid by the “Hour”. If someone is driving a truck they own I would guess itʻs by the “load”. Could be that even trucking companies pay drivers by how many “loads” they run rather than an hourly rate. Iʻve never driven that size truck so I canʻt say either way. Perhaps the county or state should investigate the payment process and address it. If drivers are going faster in order to increase a paycheck it could be leading to trucks moving too fast within the residential traffic flow
If truckers get paid by the load they haul. Doesn’t that say it all? (Speeding to make more money) They truckers just have to slowdown. Here on Kauai there is no truck lanes and there are all kinds of drivers (slow crawl ones, follow the speed limits ones, speeders and weavers (when they have a chance in places like Puhi to Lihue, and Waipoli to Kapaa).
On the westside I’ve seen many speeding semis, rubbish trucks, school buses, tow trucks, big pickup trucks,(you get the idea) speeding out of Waimea to Mana, and up in Koke’e)
I wish Paratransit would come to my house. I’m 76, disabled, and unable to make it to appointments without Paratransit. I’ve communicated with Gerald several times but he says my road condition would bounce passengers out of their seats [not if they’re seatbelted]. My road is no worse than many on Kauai. He suggests I walk down my hill and stand and wait for it down there. I tried that, with my daughter’s help, but almost fell several times. So here I am.
when is the county or state going to start weighing all big trucks and rigs, yes iam a victim of a big rig flying a rock that hit my winshield and shattered it, and it cost me $250.00 out of my pocket because of speed… i never caught up to the driver, he was going too fast ..out of my pocket….weight checking and safety a must..
cancel my letter or my e mail on it