I understand at least one reason why some people, particularly Hawaiians, fought so hard to keep the H-3 freeway from going through Halawa Valley: it's gorgeous. It’s hard to take it
easy on the H-3I hate to admit that I'd be one of those people who never would have seen the valley had the H-3 not been constructed. I'm not much of a hiker. So, unless I could have convinced half a dozen (OK, two dozen) bearers to tote me into the valley on one of those jungle chairs, I'd never have gotten to glimpse the wonderful foliage were it not for the highway.
The valley is a thing of beauty, with more character, I think, than the other two valleys I've explored from my truck: those along the Pali and Likelike highways.
That's what I was thinking recently as I looked out the window on my way to Kaneohe. Then this other vehicle came flying into my view and went zooming past me at either Mach 7 or Warp Factor 3. I was going to shake my fist at him but, I figured, by the time I got my window rolled down, he'd already be sitting on his lanai in Kaaawa sipping a brewski. I looked down at my speedometer to see if I could figure out how fast this idiot was traveling when I realized that another idiot -- me -- was toodling along at 70 mph.
Seventy? Could that be true? I seemed to be hardly moving. I just assumed I was going around 60 or so, something just barely above the speed limit. But 70? Well, it just goes to show that the H-3 is one well-made highway. The surface is smooth and the lanes are wide, providing The-Hills-Are-Alive-With-The-Sound-Of-Music kind of space that just makes you want to put the pedal to the metal.
I slowed down to 55 and felt like I was crawling along. Not to mention, cars started coming up on me so fast I felt like I was being shot at with photon torpedoes. These cars also went flying by me. I figured that the guy who passed me when I was doing 70 must have been doing 100. And meaning it.
That's when it dawned on me the H-3 is exceedingly dangerous.
Last week, I was again heading toward Kaneohe on the H-3 at a more reasonable speed when I came across those two huge trucks crashed in the Honolulu-bound lanes. One person was killed. It was the first fatality on the H-3 since its completion last year. As I drove past, I knew that this would not be the last bad crash on the H-3.
Some anti-H-3 activists are going to say that this just proves the highway is haunted or something because it was built over sacred religious sites. I tend to think the problem is that Hawaii drivers, not the best in the world under the best circumstances, just can't handle large, open stretches of roadway.
Local drivers, that is, people who have only driven in Hawaii or lived here so long that they drive like they have only driven in Hawaii, are used to short, tight, bumpy stretches of road where 50 mph seems breakneck. The average Hawaii drivers think shifting into fourth gear is scary and they slow down to 30 mph if a cloud passes over the sun. If they ever had to drive in snow, well, they wouldn't.
And so, when they hit large open spaces, like the H-2 to Waikele or Kunia Road, they tend to overdo it.
The H-3 is the worst so far because it is such a well-made highway that goes through some of the most spectacular scenery on the island. It is easy to go fast, it is easy to be distracted and so, it is easy to crack up.
I suppose that after last week's fatality, police will begin to target speeders on the H-3. That will work for a while. But I'm afraid that for the long term, there's only one way to make that gorgeous stretch of highway safe: speed bumps.
Charles Memminger, winner of
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
awards in 1994 and 1992, writes "Honolulu Lite"
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Write to him at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802
or send E-mail to charley@nomayo.com or
71224.113@compuserve.com.
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