City officials address spike in Oahu traffic fatalities

A man who was standing in the road on Nimitz Highway in Salt Lake has become the latest in a recent uptick of traffic fatalities on Oahu.

On Wednesday evening at around 10 p.m. a motorist traveling westbound on the highway struck the 50-year-old pedestrian who was standing on the road outside a marked crosswalk, the Honolulu Police Department reported.

The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition but later died.

The fatality is the 14th on Oahu so far this year, and half of those have come in just the last two weeks. The recent deaths have taken place around the island and during various times of day. Two of the fatalities were pedestrians, while the others were of people in vehicles, including a Saturday evening crash in Nanakuli after an allegedly drunk driver hit a parked vehicle and killed a 38-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter who were inside.

Oahu is now on pace for 82 traffic fatalities this year, which would exceed its 48 fatalities last year, 54 in 2020 and 51 in 2019, and would be the most in the City and County of Honolulu since a reported 88 fatalities in 2006, according to the state Department of Transportation.

The recent spike may be indicative of greater vehicular and pedestrian traffic as COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to fall and people spend more time outside.

“We’re seeing a greater number of vehicular traffic, pedestrian traffic, more bicyclists out,” said Capt. James Slayter of the Honolulu Police Department’s Traffic Division in a news conference this afternoon. “As things start to … normalize as COVID subsides, the numbers on the streets start to increase.”

All Hawaii counties have dropped their COVID-19 restrictions, while Gov. David Ige has announced that the Safe Travels Hawaii restrictions for domestic travelers to Hawaii will end on March 25.

Slayter reported that there are about 65 motor collisions per day on Oahu this year, which is around the 64 collisions per day in 2021 but greater than the 56 per day in 2020, when the coronavirus began spreading in Hawaii.

In 2017 and 2018, before the pandemic, there were around 90 motor collisions per day, and in 2019 there were 86, Slayter said.

Shayne Enright, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, noted during the news conference that the department recently has fielded several calls involving mothers and their children who were crossing a street when they were hit by vehicles.

One involved a 34-year-old woman in Waikiki who was injured Sunday evening while crossing Kanekapolei Street and carrying her 1-year-old daughter, who was also injured. Enright said the department responded to a similar case in East Oahu Thursday morning.

In both instances, the women and their children were reportedly using a crosswalk to get across the street, Enright said.

The latest jump in traffic fatalities may be a natural consequence of more people driving and walking around on the island, but first responders are still urging people — both drivers and pedestrians — to stay vigilant to keep each other safe.

“It’s the responsibility of all of us to ensure one another’s safety,” said Arnold Paragoso, acting chief of operations at the Honolulu Emergency Medical Services during the news conference. “These injuries are devastating, even if it’s not a high-speed collision. Even at slow speeds the injuries to the body are significant. … We’d just like to remind the public to be aware and be vigilant when you’re driving and as well as when you’re crossing the road.”