Not a Joke, Which Makes it Worse

The Honolulu Star Advertiser's lead story is about traffic fatalities, with the emphasis on speeding as the primary cause:

Over the year, the average number of traffic-related fatalities on Oahu generally ranges between 55 and 60, he said.

So far this year, HPD has issued 13,869 speeding tickets and roughly 2,300 tickets for excessive speeding, 300 for reckless speeding and 200 for racing.

Police said neither of Thursday’s H-1 collisions involved speeding, alcohol or drugs as factors, but both are still under investigation.

However, the majority of traffic related fatalities so far this year involved either speeding — which [HPD’s traffic division commander Stason] Tanaka said is definitely the case with motorcyclists — while others are due to either alcohol or drug impairment. On Friday he urged motorists to observe speed limits, particularly with students returning to school in upcoming weeks, and not to get behind the wheel impaired.

From personal observation Oahu's roads are poorly maintained and too narrow for today's trucks and SUV's. Speed bumps have been added recently and often took me by surprise at nights. Lest you think me reckless, dear reader, they appear on 40 MPH "highways" to force the traffic down to 25 MPH.

There is a paucity of practical solutions, so HPD is appealing to the goodwill of the drivers:

“Just drive with aloha,” he said. “I mean, we share the road with our friends, our family and co-workers, so a decision that you make when you drive — these are all things that affect others on the road.”

At first I thought "driving with aloha" was partially a joke headline, but they were serious. Uh-oh.

Again from personal observation: there's not as much aloha spirit around these days.