DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Separate collisions involving more than 40 cars shut down the town-bound lanes of the H-1 freeway yesterday just after 8 a.m. Jimmy Racpan, a Waipahu resident, observed one accident scene on the freeway yesterday from the Waiawa Road overpass.

Another pileup
jams roads

1 dies and 8 are hurt in today’s
3-car crash in Windward Oahu

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

For the second consecutive day, a multiple-car pileup brought morning drive traffic on a major Oahu roadway to a standstill.

At about 6:10 this morning, a three-car collision on Kamehameha Highway near Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church and the Waikane Congregational Church on Windward Oahu left one woman dead and eight other people injured.

The woman, believed to be in her 50s or 60s, was pinned in her car and pronounced dead at the scene.

She was in a car heading toward Kaneohe that crashed head-on into a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction. Some of the other injured people were in the back of the pickup.

Two men and two women were transported by Medevac helicopter to Queen's Medical Center where they are in guarded condition.

A man and a woman were taken by ambulance to Castle Medical Center in serious condition.

And one man went to Kahuku Hospital also by ambulance in stable condition. One woman was treated at the scene.

Police expected the highway to be closed in both directions at least until noon today as they investigated the accident's cause.

Yesterday morning, it was rain and inattentive drivers that caused the 42-vehicle pileup on the H-1 freeway in Waiawa, said police Maj. Bryan Wauke, Pearl City District commander. At least a dozen people were injured, none seriously.

Honolulu firefighters who went there to assist injured motorists reported seeing 20 vehicles involved in five separate collisions near Leeward Community College.

Wauke said there were more accidents farther down the freeway.

Police counted 13 separate collisions, involving 42 vehicles, on the eastbound lanes of the freeway between the Waiawa Road overpass at LCC and the Waimalu offramp.

Radio traffic reporter Danielle Tucker said sunlight reflecting off the rain-slicked roadway contributed to yesterday's multiple collisions. Tucker said she saw the first collision just past 8 a.m. on television monitors at the city's Traffic Control Center.

"It was an accident that was five different accidents that happened so fast," she said.

Tucker said the collisions involved a jackknifed tractor-trailer blocking two lanes of the freeway.

Motorists trying to snake past the collisions added to an already confusing situation as those involved in the crashes exited their cars and were walking on the freeway, Tucker said.

"It was spooky. I'm just amazed nobody was seriously injured," she said.

Firefighters set up a triage tent on the freeway in anticipation of a large number of injured motorists.

City Emergency Medical Services officials reported transporting six women, two of them pregnant, and one man to area hospitals by ambulance. By afternoon all had been treated and released. St. Francis Medical Center in Liliha reported receiving a seventh woman, who was also treated and released.

Others involved in the collisions walked to the tent to be checked but indicated they would seek medical attention on their own, said Capt. Kenison Tejada, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.

St. Francis officials said four people walked in for treatment at their Honouliuli facility.

At the time of the collisions, there was a large, dark rain cloud over Pearl City with just enough of a break to let sunshine through to reflect off the road surface into the eyes of eastbound motorists, Tucker said. She said motorists were also picking up speed at that time after sitting through earlier traffic congestion.

Traffic backed up for at least two hours past Waikele on the H-1 freeway, past Waipahu Intermediate School on Farrington Highway, past Waipio Gentry on Kamehameha Highway and past Ka Uka Boulevard on the H-2 freeway as police shut down all but two eastbound lanes.

The state Department of Transportation kept the ZipLane open past 9 a.m. at the request of police to help clear the congestion, but closed it by 10 a.m. because police said it was causing more problems than it was solving, said Marilyn Kali, state Transportation spokeswoman.

Wauke said there was concern that keeping the ZipLane open would affect westbound traffic.

Even after the entrance to the ZipLane was closed, Tucker said motorists squeezed their cars past the gate and even backed up on the freeway to get to the entrance.