O'ahu roads deadlier in 2006 with 90 traffic fatalities 2006
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Speeding and reckless driving on unforgiving two-lane roadways contributed to five multi-death collisions as traffic deaths on O'ahu soared to 90 in 2006.
There were 78 fatalities on O'ahu in 2005, 71 in 2004 and 75 in 2003.
In 2006, accidents on Kunia Road, Kaukonahua Road, Kamehameha Highway in Hau'ula and Roosevelt Boulevard in Kalaeloa claimed 12 lives, eight of them youths between the ages of 15 and 19.
The deadliest occurred on March 27 when a speeding car trying to pass in a no-passing zone on Kunia Road forced a pickup truck carrying 10 farm workers to veer out of its way and into the path of a cement truck, killing Aquilina Polendy, 57; Ana Sacalamitao, 46; Gertrudis Montano, 59; and Lorna Laroco, 53.
Four people, three of them teens, died in two crashes about 19 hours apart on Aug. 19 in Hau'ula. Following a crash that killed Pepe Naupoto, 15, and Alithia Ah Nee, 16, two of their friends — Orem Kauvaka, 16, and Summer-Lynn Mau, 19 — were killed when a speeding car plowed into a group mourning Naupoto and Ah Nee at a roadside shrine.
Others killed were Shane Bachiller, 18, and Lanakila Vierra, 17, in a crash May 14 on Kaukonahua Road, and Leslie Kim, 16, and Tanya House, 18, on July 24 at Kalaeloa.
The death of 69-year-old Duc Dung Ly on Tuesday at The Queen's Medical Center was added to the 2006 count because he was injured Dec. 14 while crossing Captain Cook Avenue near Punchbowl. Ly was the 20th pedestrian fatality of 2006.
O'ahu's traffic deaths last year included nine motorcyclists, six moped operators and five bicylists, according to statistics compiled by The Advertiser.
The statewide fatality count in 2006 was 157, compared with 138 in 2005.
Kaua'i's 14 deaths in 2006 were the most there since 1997. Since police started keeping traffic records in 1981, there have never been more than 14 traffic deaths on Kaua'i in a single year.
The Big Island had a five-death collision in November at Volcano but it wasn't counted because the accident did not happen on a state or county roadway. The Big Island's 33 fatalities in 2006 were three fewer than in 2005.
Maui County's 20 traffic fatalities included four motorcyclists and three pedestrians. Three deaths were on Moloka'i.
Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
