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Car crashes on
Nuuanu bridge
A witness says the driver veered
across three lanes of traffic
A 32-year-old Kailua woman drove her 2002 Nissan Altima up a Nuuanu pedestrian bridge and crashed through the guardrails yesterday afternoon.
The driver was hospitalized but there were no other injuries.
The bridge crosses Pali Highway and is used heavily by students when Kawananakoa Intermediate School is in session. Classes start on Monday.
"Thank God no one was at school," said St. Francis Medical Center nurse Jane Doll, who saw the car drive up the walkway. "How she got up that ramp is beyond me. I didn't think it was that wide."
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Doll had just turned onto the Pali from Kuakini Street about 2 p.m. and was heading town-bound when she saw the black car coming straight toward her. Doll said she and other motorists stopped as the woman drove across three lanes to the far left side to avoid a collision.
"She had this really intense look, and she was gripping the wheel," Doll said. "I'm glad she veered past us, but she was going so fast she just ran right up that ramp.
"In my rearview mirror I could see parts from her car coming off from the back. ... It looked like her car blew apart."
At the top of the ramp, the car broke through the metal pipe railing and fell about 12 feet to the ground near a parking lot exit from the school. Emergency medical crews transported the driver of the car to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition, though she was later upgraded to guarded.
Traffic investigator Sgt. Alan Vegas said the driver had been driving toward Kailua on the Pali when she veered left and crashed through the hedges on the median and toward oncoming traffic in the town-bound lanes.
"Speed was a possible factor. ... It was unknown whether alcohol was a factor in the crash," Vegas said. He also added that the driver "might have suffered from some medical condition."
Portions of both north- and southbound lanes of the highway near the crash site were closed for about two hours while police investigated.
