Hawaii Personal Injury Blog - H-2

Why Are Fatal Traffic Accidents in Honolulu Concentrated In Downtown and Iwilei?

Wayne Parsons — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:28:17 GMT

Let take the off ramp on the H-1 Interstate Highway and cut through Downtown Honolulu over to the Iwilei area and Nimitz Highway. For the past wek a group of Injury Board affiliates across the country have be participating in a series of articles on interstate highways and underinsurance coverage (UM) and so i take a short detour to look at some particularly dangerous areas for fatal car crashes in Hawaii on the roads of Oahu and the streets of Honolulu.

I have been studying some Heat Maps on a website called Risky Roads that shows fatal car crashes in states across the country. Honolulu has a pretty dense traffic pattern and many roads are filled at rush hour. Some get a higher percentage of speeders and perhaps the bar crowd than others, and then there is lighting, pedestrian traffic and traffic signals. I will tell you up front I don't understand what I am seeing.

First Map:

The dots are groups of fatal car crashes. So that bright red dot is actually a concentrated set of 4 different collisions in the location. the lighter the dot the smaller the number of crashes. The period of time appears to be 2005 through 2007.

Here is the scale of meanings:

So that bright red dot is 4 fatal crashes at that location. Lets dig deeper.

Now I see that there were 8 deadly car crashes along Nimitz heading away from downtown between River Street and the Salvation Army Facility in Iwilei. I wonder if some of those fatalities were pedestrians. The area has a lot of homeless people and the boat crews from Honolulu Harbor. Here is a satellite view of the same area.

Now you can see that the two red dots representing 8 fatal automobile accidents appears to be off Nimitz Highway and actually the area going off Nimitz into Iwilei. This has to be pedestrian I think.

The data in Risky Roads is supposedly from NHTSA data. The NHTSA has a reporting system called the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) that is pretty user friendly. I learned from FARS for instance that there were 34,017 fatal traffic accidents nationwide in 2008, down from 37,435 fatalities in 2007. And I learned that in 2008 Hawaii (all islands) had 102 fatal car crashes involving 140 vehicles and 239 persons. I assume that is 239 deaths.

I am wondering if anyone has a better resource that identifies the location of serious traffic accidents on Oahu and on the Neighbor Islands? I know that the State Department of Transportation collects data but how current is it and what do they do with it? Do the police analyze this data in deciding where to place patrols?

If you have information on dangerous intersections or stretches of highway in Hawaii, let me know. The best way to prevent injury and death from automobiles is to be aware of high risk areas. I'd like to publish them here and will pass the information gained along to the media and consumer groups. I know that AARP is crusading to make crosswalks safer.

You may find the other articles in this series informative on national interstate highway driving and automobile insurance.

Are Double-Bottomed Semis More or Less Dangerous to You? - Devon Glass from Church Wyble, P.C. (Michigan), August 26, 2009

Who wins and loses when a Ford Focus and a fully-loaded semi-truck crash? - Steve Lombardi from The Lombardi Law Firm (Iowa), August 25, 2009

Hawaii Freeway Chronicles #1: What Are The Danger Points On H-1, H-2 and H-3?, by Wayne Parsons of Wayne Parsons Law Offices. (Hawaii), August 27, 2009

The Interstate Highway Graveyard, “Speed Kills”, Lombardi, August 28, 2009

Why Speeders on the Highway Cause More Serious Accidents, Glass, August 28, 2009

Death and Injury On Interstate Highways Increase With Higher Speed Limits, Wayne Parsons, August 29, 2009 2:31 AM

Drunk Drivers Caused 40% of Traffic Fatalities In Hawaii In 2006, Wayne Parsons, August 31, 2009 12:16 AM

Interstate Highways Are No Place For Drunk Drivers Over The Labor Day Weekend Wayne Parsons | September 01, 2009 4:36 PM

Uninsured Motorist Car Insurance: It’s Your Most Important Car Insurance and Here Is Why | Rick Shapiro, September 01, 2009 10:30 AM

Uninsured Drivers: Who Are These People?, Pierce Egerton | September 02, 2009 12:00 PM Risky Drivers Don't Just Drive Drunk and Speed - They Often Don't have Insurance by Wayne Parsons | September 03, 2009 4:09 PM

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Interstate Highways Are No Place For Drunk Drivers Over The Labor Day Weekend

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:36:20 GMT

As the Labor day weekend approaches police across the nation are cracking down on drunk driving. Those of us who see the tragic results of dangerous driving behavior support the police and hope that our phones ring silent next week. That's why 5 of us (Steve Lombardi, Devon Glass, Michael Bryant, Steve Lombardi and Rick Shapiro), all members of Injury Board, are writing about highway safety this month _ focusing on the interstate highway system. So today I write about alcohol and the intoxicated user of the interstate highways from Hawaii to Virginia. Our families, like yours, will be on the highways and roads this weekend and we pray that they all come home safe.

The question posed by Steve Lombardi about a death and injury collisions on an interstate highway makes a good point. Who wins and loses when a Ford Focus and a fully-loaded semi-truck crash? - Steve Lombardi from The Lombardi Law Firm (Iowa), August 25, 2009

Let me add some fuel to the discussion by asking how many of the drivers of the Ford Focus or the truck are drunk at any given moment on our interstate highways? That grandmother that, like Mr. Lombardi, likes to push 70 mph on the interstate is a lot safer than the college kid or Realtor in the Ford Focus who is going 45 mph with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.17. In fact there is no comparison. The statistics are remarkable. Forty percent (40%) _ let me pause and catch my breath _ of car crash deaths in Hawaii involve drunk drivers. Forty percent (40%) of the fatal automobile accidents in Hawaii are alcohol related. I wrote on this subject on Monday: Drunk Drivers Caused 40% of Traffic Fatalities In Hawaii In 2006

But where are the accidents happening? Are they more frequent on interstate highways across the country? I wonder what Devon Glass from Church Wyble, P.C. and Steve Lombardi from The Lombardi Law Firm and Mike Bryant see in the highway injury and death statistics in Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. Mike was recently installed as the president of the Minnesota Association of Justice and is a nationally recognized expert in accident and injury prevention. Or what does Rick Shapiro see on Highways in Virginia or Washington D.C.? Let's look at an interesting data source that puts geography - accident location - into the drunk driving car crashes that happen on or highways. Check out DUIMap.org:

RiskyRoads.org Maps Fatal Accident Hot Spots

Find out if you live or work near a Drunk Driving or Fatal Accident Hot Spot

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 3, 2009 -- Today, MapLarge.com released a set of online mapping tools that anyone can use to view the most fatal and stressed roads in our nation's transportation infrastructure. The Risky Roads map shows the areas with the most traffic fatalities and the DUI Map shows the areas with the most DUI related traffic fatalities.

Map of DUI Accidents

Florida and Georgia Road Maps show the enormous amount of traffic increases on our roads. Many highways and roads have more than doubled the amount of traffic they carry in the last six years.

Risky Roads

Using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, RiskyRoads.org maps the concentration of fatal accidents that occur within 1000 feet of one another. The result is a heat map that emphasizes the country's worst hot spots for traffic fatalities.

State DUI Maps
DUIMap.org is a heat map showing concentrations of fatal DUI accidents. Clusters of DUI fatalities highlight the most dangerous areas where drunk driving accidents occur.

Risky Roads reminds us of a chilling statistic from the Center For Disease Control (CDC):

According to the CDC, 36 people die every day due to drunk drivers. The national annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion.

I blinked at the fact that the CDC has the word "disease" in its name and we were talking about car crashes and truck collisions. But then I realized that people cause the death and injury and that alcoholism is a disease.

So let's look at DUI related car deaths in Honolulu via DUIMap.org and Risky Roads:

This heat map displays concentrations of fatal Drunk Driving traffic accidents in Hawaii. Clusters of DUI fatalities highlight the most dangerous areas where drunk driving accidents occur. Each icon on the map represents the location of a DUI motor vehicle crash that resulted in a fatality. The color of the icon represents the number of additional DUI motor vehicle crashes within 1 mile. Click on each icon to see the date and time of the accident.

In DUIMaps you can zome in to see the street and exact locations. As you can see, all three of Hawaii's interstate highways are on this map and we have a number of death cases involving alcohol on the H-1. You can also see this map in a satellite photo with just one click:

Drilling down to see an area of particular interest gets me back to my article on the 55 mph speed limit in Hawaii. I have written two recent articles on the subject of speed and interstate highways:

Hawaii Freeway Chronicles #1: What Are The Danger Points On H-1, H-2 and H-3?, by Wayne Parsons of Wayne Parsons Law Offices. (Hawaii), August 27, 2009, and Death and Injury On Interstate Highways Increase With Higher Speed Limits, Wayne Parsons, August 29, 2009 2:31 AM. In the latter I talked about the 45 mph speed limit in a section on the H-1 going through McCully and about the road rage that we experience from drivers who hate to have to slow down. As I look at the accident map below from DUIMap.org it seems that there are no DUI deaths in that section for the time period covered by the map.

So what is it? Does the lower speed limit save lives? Or is an interstate highway inherently safer because it has one way traffic, regulated interchanges with safe on ramps and off ramps and several lanes of travel? What do you think? I'd like to hear from Lombardi, Glass, Bryant and Shapiro on this subject. And from the outside it would be great to hear the voice of transportation engineers and MADD who really are the ones fighting for safer street and interstate highways.

Devon Glass has written on the subject of interstate highway safety and his articles are worth a careful read:

Are Double-Bottomed Semis More or Less Dangerous to You? - Devon Glass from Church Wyble, P.C. (Michigan), August 26, 2009;

In the latter article Devon points to engineering reasons for his article title. Why does speed matter?

· It increases the distance a vehicle travels from the time a driver detects an emergency to the time a driver reacts.

· It increases the distance needed to stop a vehicle once an emergency is perceived.

· It increases the “crash energy” by the square of speeds—when an impact speed increases from 40 to 60 mph, the energy that needs to be managed increases by 125%. In other words, the crash impact is going to be astronomically greater than if you were going at a slower speed.

Add slower reaction times, blurred vision and fatigue caused by alcohol and the situation deteriorates rapidly. A half a second slower to hit the brakes means the car crash is significantly higher impact.

I am interested in the view from the satellite in Lansing and Des Moines and St. Cloud.

When it comes to highway safety on the interstate highway system, one thing is for sure: drinking and driving don't mix. If you drink, stay off the interstate be it the H-1 or I-95.

Why Speeders on the Highway Cause More Serious Accidents, Glass, August 28, 2009

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Wrong-way Drivers Cause Three Percent (3%) of U.S. Traffic Fatalities

Wayne Parsons — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:30:03 GMT

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wrong-way automobile accidents constitute about three perscent (3%) of automobile related deaths each year on U.S. roads. I am surprised by that number. It includes U-turns and perhaps that explains the number

Results of Studies

Because wrong-way accidents are tragic, they have been under intensive study by the California Department of Transportation for over 30 years. Wrong-way fatal crashes account for about three percent of the fatal crashes on California freeways, and about 5 percent of the fatalities.

Can these incidents of wrong way driving fatalities be prevented? The problem is not easy to solve according to the California Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic Operations:

Preventing Wrong-Way Accidents on Freeways

In some localities, many serious accidents result from wrong-way driving on freeways, and the prevention of these violations becomes an important public safety issue.

According to a report issued by the California Department of Transportation's Division of Traffic Operations, half of the wrong-way driving on freeways results from deliberate, illegal U-turns. Measures taken to improve ramp operation would not affect this half of the wrong-way problem. For the other half, none of the physical barriers tested to date appear appropriate. Methods other than physical barriers have, however, proved helpful in decreasing incidents of wrong-way driving.

Several good resource articles are available that survey this problem:

Interstate Highway Safety: Part I - Ghost drivers continue to be a problem on U.S. Interstate Highways, Nov. 8, 2008

Driver Safety: Wrong-way drivers, not as uncommon as you may think.

Driver Safety: Wrong-side Accident Round-up, including Iowa .

Motorcycle Safety: Driving the wrong way, heading south in the ...

Steve Lombardi of the Lombardi Lawfirm in Des Moines, Iowa has been writing well researched articles on this health and safety for some time now amd ois considerred a national resource on wrong way crashes.

On Oahu and in Honolulu we have the H-1, H-2 and H-3 but a confusing array of feeder streets and ramps and just the other day I saw one going the wrong way on Kalanianaole Highway coming from Hawaii Kai. They stopped and turned around but it was a harrowing scene and luckily there was no collision and no injury or death. Wrong-way drivers are often confused but also often in a rush and turning around in the roadway rather than getting off the road and revising their route.

What have other states tried to lessen the numbers of these accidents, injury and death?

California designed movable gates to bar traffic from high occupancy vehicle lanes. The gates are designed to stop even the heaviest vehicle; however, they take approximately 20 seconds to lower or raise—far too slow for a wrong-way vehicle entering a ramp. With the present state of the art, gates are not appropriate for retaining a wrong-way vehicle.

Georgia has tested a pump-up device that presents a physical curb-like barrier to the wrong-way driver, but it was found unsuitable for reasons similar to those of the spike barriers.

California tried adding horns and flashing red lights over the wrong-way signs, but these were found to be ineffective and drew complaints from neighbors. One device that did show promise was red, airport-type pavement lights, embedded in the pavement across an off-ramp, activated by wrong-way vehicles. These were shown by camera monitoring to reduce further wrong-way entries. About half of the wrong-way drivers at these ramps braked before reaching the wrong-way sign. Nearly half continued past the signs but braked before the pavement lights. Some, however, continued past the pavement lights and went out of view of the camera.

Some patterns emerge as you look at the types of wrong-way drivers:

A check of the driving records of typical wrong-way drivers indicate that they have received more traffic violations and felony convictions and have been involved in considerably more accidents of all types than the average motorist. The majority of wrong-way drivers were male. Another complicating characteristic is that many make intentional U-turns on freeways—they do not enter via an off-ramp. Nearly half of the wrong-way crashes are caused by U-turns, and half from wrong-way entries via off-ramps. 12-1-39 Field reviews must be conducted by transportation officials to make sure that signs and markings at these locations are in good repair, and that there are no conditions which could mislead drivers.

From Hawaii to Texas to Iowa to Florida, a growing sense is rising that these tragic wrong-way collisions can be reduced. Brooks Schuelke of Austin, TX has written an interesting article on the subject from the point of view of Texas:

Wrong Way Drivers Causing A Rash of Traffic Fatalities In Dallas And Austin

Have you witnessed wrong-way drivers in Hawaii? Is it a problem here? How about you folks in Texas and Iowa?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Soldier Hit By Car As He Walks Along H-2

Wayne Parsons — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:43:01 GMT

Schofield Barracks soldier PFC Jesse Hart was on foot along the H-2 Freeway in the northerly direction shortly after midnight when he was struck by another car just before the Wahiawa off-ramp. Mr. Hart was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

According to the Honolulu Advertiser story by Will Hoover (whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com):

Hours earlier, Hart had celebrated his 21st birthday on a double date, said his grandmother, Linda Hart, in his hometown of Boyd, Texas.

"The information I got was that he and another soldier was on a double date," Linda Hart told The Advertiser. "And he and this other soldier got into an argument and the soldier kicked him out of the car. And Jesse started walking."

Police said alcohol consumption by Hart may have been a factor.

The car that hit the soldier was a 1994 Honda Civic driven by a 25-year-old Wahiawa man. Alcohol, drugs or speeding did not appear to be factors on the part of the driver of the Honda, police said.

Critical head injuries and unknown internal injuries were treated at The Queen's Medical Center where Hart arrived in critical condition.

Loran Doane, Schofield Barracks spokesman, said Hart was a member of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which began returning from Iraq in February following a 15-month deployment.

"This is what's so tragic about deployments," Doane said. "There he lived through the worst of the worst. And then this happens here."

Linda Hart said the news of her grandson's highway incident after safely returning from Iraq had caught the family off guard.

"I'm really kind of in shock right now," said Hart, shortly after the family learned about about what had happened. She said her son, Sean Hart, Jesse Hart's dad, had spoken with her grandson's battalion commander who said the soldier had been taken off a respirator, which the commander took to be an encouraging sign.

I send my prayers for PFC Hart and his family in Texas.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons