StarBulletin.com

Elderly man struck by car dies


By

POSTED: Saturday, January 16, 2010

Another elderly resident has died after being hit by a car on Oahu, the third pedestrian death so far this year and the second in three days.

Yui Tung Ng, 73, of Kukui Gardens died yesterday.

He had been hit by a car at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday as he crossed North Vineyard Boulevard at Aala Street near Chinatown.

Ng, who died of major head injuries at the Queen's Medical Center, was in a marked crosswalk when he was hit by a vehicle turning left from Aala onto Vineyard, authorities said.

Police have opened a negligent-homicide case.

Ng retired in 1998 after working as a custodian at a school and a shopping center, said his son Jason. He immigrated from Hong Kong in 1973.

“;It was to start a different life for his family,”; Jason Ng said.

; Ng said his father, who helped to put his three children through college, enjoyed living in Hawaii.

“;Hawaii provided a very beautiful life for him.”;

Jason Ng said his father crossed the busy six lanes of traffic on Vineyard Boulevard several times a day for decades to get his exercise, do his shopping and go to the library.

“;It only takes one careless moment,”; Ng said.

“;You can do everything right. That's all it takes.”;

On Tuesday, Hideno T. Matsumoto, 81, of Nuuanu died after being hit by a car while crossing Pali Highway near Dowsett Avenue. She was also in a marked crosswalk.

On Jan. 7, 52-year-old Sachiko Kojima of Tokyo was crossing Kaiolu Street when a van driven by a Waikiki woman turned left from Kuhio Avenue and hit her.

Kojima was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died the following day from head injuries. The death was classified as an accident.

Hawaii's senior population is expected to double in the next 20 years, and the AARP-Hawaii Chapter said the state needs to find a way to accommodate the aging population on the streets.

Hawaii leads the nation in elderly pedestrian fatalities, with a rate of 6.97 deaths per 100,000 people 65 years and older. Nationally, the average rate for the same age group was 2.33 pedestrian deaths per 100,000, according to the coalition group Transportation for America.