Kaukonahua drivers
like bumps in the road
Some Haleiwa and Waialua residents are glad that the city has installed bumps on Kaukonahua Road that warn drivers if they stray over the center line or off a dangerous stretch.
City officials wanted to cut down on the high number of fatal accidents where motorists drive off the road and slam into poles or trees and drivers drive across the center line and crash into oncoming vehicles.
"We are ever more thankful that these are put there for the driver's safety and for the safety of others who are driving there," said Waialua resident Blossom Sturm.
Workers completed the $210,000 installation of road bumps and re-striping on Kaukonahua Road on Friday. Ron's Construction started installing road bumps on April 21 between Thomson Corner and Wilikina Drive.
On the S-curves of the road, the workers installed round bumps on the center line and along the edges of the road and re-striped those areas. They also put up 13 additional no-passing and curve-warning signs and 15 reflective markers.
Police said two traffic fatalities occurred last year on Kaukonahua Road, and seven traffic-related deaths occurred in 2001. The victims were drivers or passengers involved in collisions where the vehicles crossed the center line, ran off the roadway or slammed into objects such as a utility pole or a tree.
Last night, a rider was seriously injured after losing control of his motorcycle on Kaukonahua Road about a mile south of Thomson Corner. Details of the accident were not immediately available.
Community members and police have said speeding is a problem along the stretch.
A three-fatality car crash on Kaukonahua Road in April 2001 prompted residents and the city to revisit recommendations to make the road safer.
"I think what they've done so far is working," said Kathleen Pahinui, chairwoman of the North Shore Neighborhood Board. "It's the first step in making it safe for the community."
Donovan Dela Cruz, chairman of the City Council Public Safety Committee, said the city is doing as much as it can to lower the amount of accidents on the road, but "the only ones that can control speeding is the drivers."
Dela Cruz said he hopes the road bumps will serve as a reminder for drivers to slow down.
Waialua resident Barbara Cox said she was first irritated by the road bumps that were added to the roadway along the S-curves. "I thought it was a nuisance," said Cox.
But she said the more she drove on Kaukonahua Road, she realized that it could help motorists stay on the roadway.
Waialua resident Stephen Matteo, an aircraft mechanic for Continental Airlines who drives along Kaukonahua Road every night, said: "You really notice the road bumps. It makes your car vibrate. I think it's a good improvement. Anything they do up there is going to help."
Capt. Michael Thomas, of the Wahiawa Police Station, said it is too early to tell whether the road bumps are effective.
"Let's see how it goes," Thomas said.
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Kaukonahua Road accidents
Fatal traffic accidents that occurred on or near Kaukonahua Road from 2001 to 2002:>> Feb. 21, 2001: A 21-year-old man died after his sports utility vehicle slammed into a tree along Kaukonahua Road.
>> March 17, 2001: A 28-year-old man went off the roadway, struck a guardrail and slammed into a utility pole on Kaukonahua Road, a mile south of Thomson Corner.
>> March 30, 2001: A 24-year-old man slammed into a utility pole about 1 1/2 miles south of Thomson Corner.
>> April 6, 2001: A 68-year-old man died in a head-on collision when his vehicle crossed the center line on Wilikina Drive between Kaukonahua Road and Kamananui Road.
>> April 12, 2001: Three male teenagers, two age 17 and one age 18, died after a driver hit the guardrail, crossed the center line and collided with a car traveling in the opposite direction about 1 1/2 miles south of Thomson Corner.
>> Jan. 9, 2002: A 38-year-old man died after a sport utility vehicle crossed the center line and collided with his pickup truck about a half-mile past Thomson Corner.
>> Feb. 17, 2002: A 47-year-old woman was killed in a head-on collision when she may have crossed the center line on her motorcycle at the S-turn on Kaukonahua Road and collided with a sedan.
