A story headline today in the Mercury News reported that a pedestrian killed in an accident on Sunday was the 20th traffic fatality in San Jose, California, so far in 2025.
In Honolulu, a 23-year old moped rider became the 48th traffic fatality of the year after losing control and crashing into a bus near Kualoa Ranch in Windward Oahu.
The population of the city of San Jose is about the same as the population of Oahu, both hovering around one million.
And the population of the San Jose Metropolitan Statistical area is nearly twice Oahu’s population.
I hope there are some transportation engineers and social scientists, as well as reporters, poring over the data to determine what accounts for Honolulu’s dismal record.
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Drivers attitude, lack of caution is the cause.
The last fatality was a moped driver doing wheelies on Kamehameha Highway, near Kualoa Ranch. The moped driver crashed into a tour bus. Not much any study or research can do for this type of accident. I am saddened by this senseless loss of a young man. I pray for the family of this young man in their time of sorrow.
Our populations may be similar, but I’m guessing we have way more cars on far fewer roads, and our roads are narrower and engineered with less allowance for rumble lanes and other safety construction.
We already have anecdotes and beliefs around traffic deaths. Your call for informed analysis is spot-on.
Last time I read reader comments on Star-Advertiser articles (not much fun), some folks seemed to believe that the main cause of traffic deaths was people carelessly travelling without cars or houses.
It does seem like cars and highways have become safer and safer over the decades—for people in cars. If pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists are meanwhile facing continuing danger or new dangers (like, say, more air conditioning and cell phones or bigger cars), maybe something can be done about that. But we need testable analysis based on good data and then some political will.
Over time, the capabilities of modern vehicles have increased. It’s very easy to drive modern vehicles fast. However, the skill level of many drivers in Hawaii is not up to par, in my opinion. There is also an arrogance some drivers have who may believe their skills meet or exceed the capabilities of their vehicle. That is most often not the case, hence why we see vehicles that flip onto the roof. That may result yanking the steering wheel and over correcting in a panic situation. At that point, the vehicle is also traveling at a very high speed. You need a lot of momentum to flip a truck or SUV, yet we see overturned vehicles quite often on Oahu.
We also have a mix of drivers of varying ages and skill levels. We also do not have the best roads. Many roads have lane markers and stripes that are worn or non-existent.
There is also something the media does not mention. I suspect a lot of vehicle crashes are actually suicides.
Some, may even be murder-suicides (domestic argument is occurring inside a moving vehicle and the driver deliberately crashes…killing both occupants).
Tail gating and weaving in and out of traffic on the freeway is a sport on the West side. What Ingle says is correct — young drivers are over confident. If you drive 65 – 70 and the speed limit is 65, some moron will still tail gate you. I had such high hopes that within a few years we would have a better class of drivers in Hawaii after Driver’s Ed became mandatory for minors to get a license. Doesn’t appear to have happened.