Pedestrian deaths involving senior citizens on Oahu have been declining since Officer Mel Andres of the Honolulu Police Department started giving presentations about traffic safety. On Thursday, he talked to the Okinawan Club at the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Senior Center and afterward listened to comments from Tonmie E. Higa.
Playing it safe
Mel Andres advises both young
and old on how to be safe
in traffic
MEL ANDRES wants you to "walk wise" -- especially you older folks. He's been on a mission for the Honolulu Police Department for several years now to stem the incidence of pedestrian fatalities involving senior citizens, and is having some success.
|
Who: Mel Andres Title: Police officer Job: Makes presentations to high school students and community groups about traffic safety, with a special goal of reducing pedestrian deaths among the elderly.
|
Andres, 38, has been a police officer for 16 years, including five with the Traffic Division based at HPD headquarters on Beretania Street. A graduate of Damien High School and Santa Rosa Community College, he is married to the former Jill Metzger, with whom he has a daughter age 19 months and a son 5 months. They live in Kaneohe.
Question: What exactly do you do in your job?
Answer: I currently work for the Traffic Division, and I take care of the traffic safety section. I do a lot of education assignments, like talk to high school kids. I do a lot military presentations, and to senior citizens groups.
Everybody who sends in a request having to do with traffic safety, it comes right to me, and then I schedule a presentation with that group. It can range from anything from the DUI laws and the penalties and fines or the speeding laws.
Sometimes people want to know what the fines are for speeding or where are the speed traps. Do we have a ticket quota, and what are their options if they're given citations. We talk about DUI, what's the legal limit. Often times it sounds like personal confessions rather than questions.
On Wednesday, Honolulu police officer Mel Andres talked about traffic safety to a class of drivers ed students at Farrington High School. As part of his presentation, he had volunteer Elenola Lupesoliai, above left, wear "drunk goggles," which simulate drunkeness, and attempt to go through a sobriety test as he and the class looked on.
A: When Chief (Michael) Nakamura was the chief of police, I worked out of his office and I did a lot of personal safety lectures and presentations -- robbery prevention, burglary prevention, and just general safety tips. Then when he retired, I was asked if I could go to traffic and somewhat do the same sort of duties, but then with everything pertaining to traffic.
Q: How many guys do you work with?
A: Only me. My position is tied into the Junior Police Officers section, the JPO. There's about 10 JPO officers and just one position assigned to traffic safety.
Q: Do you give lectures or presentations to the young JPOs?
A: Once in a while a school may have me, for a presentation on seat-belts, for example. But most of the schools I talk to are high schools. We just started back in November 2004 a program of going into the high schools to talk to the kids and faculty members, because recently there's been an increase in the amount of citations to drivers who are under 21.
Q: I recently interviewed a driver's ed teacher, and I actually wondered afterward if there were any statistics showing that drivers ed, which is mandatory for any driver under 18, had had any effect on under-21 driving citations or deaths.
A: I'm not sure what the exact numbers are. We're seeing a slight increase in the amount of citations issued to drivers under 21, but I'm not sure as far as what the numbers are compared to the fatality rate.
Q: Do you think police officers, the traffic officers, pick on kids?
A: Oh, no. There's no profile.
Q: It just seems like I often see kids being pulled over.
A: Well, often times these kids fix up their cars to look like a race car but they don't have their reconstruction permit. So often times these cars stick out like a sore thumb.
On Thursday, Andres visited with senior citizens at the Lanakila Multi-Purpose Center, at left, where the Okinawan Club was meeting. Some of those members joined him for a group photo after his presentation.
A: The program officially started in January 2004, and to the end of the year, roughly about 8,000 senior citizens.
Q: Whose idea was this program?
A: Well, I was talking to seniors back in 2002, because back then when we looked at our pedestrian fatality rate, well over 50 percent of those getting killed were senior citizens. So we figured, well, we gotta do something, come up with some educational materials and start talking to these folks.
So I used to go into the senior citizens hangouts -- like senior rec centers, care homes, even some of the popular restaurants, like McDonald's, and Jack In The Box. They all hang out there in the morning and drink their coffee. Even Ala Moana Center by Sears.
So I was doing that, going there by myself. There was very limited funding. Then at the beginning of 2004, DOT (the state Department of Transportation) and DTS (the city Department of Transportation Services), they wanted to start up a program as well. So when the state asked us if we wanted to join them, in early 2004, that's when we started the program: Walk Wise Kupuna.
Q: Do you think you've saved any lives?
A: I think so. People come up to me and tell me that ever since the program, they're wiser now when they cross the street, and that they always remind themselves on a daily basis whenever they get out. Before they leave the home, they always take out that brochure and just read it.
Q: Are you always armed when you make these presentations?
A: Oh, yes, always. It's a better impact if I'm in uniform.
Q: Do you ever get called away to regular police actions, like if there's a crime somewhere and they need all officers nearby to report to the scene?
A: Oh, yeah. When I'm in my car, my radio is always on, so when that happens, I'll call the senior center or where ever I'm headed and let them know I'll be late. But usually it's pretty quiet.
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]
