Driver killed in crash was
under influence of drugs
HILO >> Toxicology tests show the driver of a car that struck a tourist van on Volcano Highway March 24, killing all four people in the vehicle, was under the influence of crystal methamphetamine and marijuana, said Assistant Police Chief Charles Chai.
Police had previously said that several grams of crystal methamphetamine and "a substantial amount" of money were found in the car driven by Arthur Kahele, 29, of Milolii.
Also yesterday, Chai cited a medical problem suffered Wednesday by a driver on the Hawaii Belt Highway near Hilo as the apparent cause of a traffic accident that killed one person and injured eight others.
The different factors in the two accidents indicate there is no consistent pattern to account for a recent spike in Big Island traffic fatalities, he said.
The Wednesday crash brought traffic deaths for the year to 16 compared with seven at the same time last year. The Big Island has an average of 33 traffic fatalities a year, but the number has gone as high as 44 in 1998 and as low as 23 in 1995.
In the Wednesday accident, passengers said driver Richard S. Honda, 61, of Fairfield, Calif., passed out at the wheel, Chai said. He died in the accident. Honda's wife, daughter and four grandchildren were in the car when he crossed the center line and hit an oncoming van, police said. They were taken to Hilo Hospital for treatment, along with the 28-year-old man driving the van and a 30-year-old woman driving behind the van whose car struck the van.
Chai also said driver inattention was to blame for two other recent multivictim accidents: a March 27 head-on collision that killed two people on Keaau-Pahoa Road and a March 16 head-on collision that left four people dead.