CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Motorists were caught in traffic on the H-1 freeway yesterday morning after a 78-year-old man was killed trying to walk across the Koko Head-bound lanes.
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Police urge caution as holiday crash toll rises
Separate accidents have killed four since Wednesday
Honolulu police are urging drivers to use extra caution during this weekend and throughout the holidays, after four people were killed in separate motor vehicle accidents since Wednesday.
"Traffic has been real busy. It's been kind of a horrific Thanksgiving," Fujii said at a news conference in which he also encouraged people to donate blood. "Please, slow down, drive carefully and help replenish the blood that has been used."
His appeal for caution came after traffic accidents on opposite sides of the island early yesterday and late Thursday left one man dead and another in critical condition.
A 21-year-old man was in critical condition last night from injuries he suffered in an accident on Kamehameha Highway at about 11:25 p.m. Thursday. Police said the man was driving a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck heading toward Kahuku when the vehicle veered onto the mauka shoulder and hit a hollow-tile wall near Kaunala Place.
The driver, whose name was not released, was not wearing his seat belt and was thrown from the truck, police said. He was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition. A 22-year-old man who was a front-seat passenger in the truck was also taken to Queen's, in serious but stable condition, police said.
Yesterday morning, a 78-year-old man died while trying to cross the Koko Head-bound lanes of the H-1 freeway.
At about 5 a.m. the victim was struck by a 1999 Toyota 4Runner driven by a 49-year-old man, about 240 feet east of the Queen Emma Street overpass, police said.
The victim apparently ran across the westbound lanes and climbed over the center barrier before trying to cross the eastbound lanes, police said. He was hit in the second lane from the barrier and pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not released.
Police closed the Koko Head-bound lanes to investigate the incident, backing up traffic for miles.
The death marked the fourth traffic fatality on Oahu since Wednesday, bringing the island's total for the year to 87, compared with 69 at the same time last year. The three other traffic deaths this week were:
» Russell Ventura, 61, of Kalihi Valley, who was killed Wednesday morning after being hit by two cars as he walked along Kalihi Street.
» Felix Scanlan, 33, of Waianae, who died Wednesday night when his pickup truck crossed the center line of Farrington Highway in Waianae and collided head-on with a sport utility vehicle.
» Colleen Young, 47, of Kaneohe, who died Thursday in a one-car accident along Kamehameha Highway near Johnson Road in Kualoa.