Hawaii has the dubious distinction of having some of the most dangerous roads in the country. When we asked our viewers, "What is the most dangerous intersection?" Many who work or live near Ala Moana Center said Makaloa and Keeaumoku Streets. Dangerous intersections are often exposed during peak traffic hours.
"Just the traffic I don’t know there’s just a lot of cars passing through this area," said Taryn Lee who works in the area.
"The traffic never seems to stop," said Sasha Schorr.
That’s exactly what happens everyday at Makaloa and Keeaumoku Streets.
"It’s a high traffic area and you always have people coming and going so that does it make it challenging for both pedestrians and drivers," said Schorr.
"Not surprised at all this is probably the most dangerous especially in town," said Mike Dolde who was shopping in the area.
Those who live and work in the area says it is common to see pedestrians racing across crosswalks, trying to beat the clock, while dodging cars.
"Cars are very impatient here especially with our two lanes turning left here on Kapiolani Boulevard," said Mahina Kamaile who works near Ala Moana Center.
For drivers, they too are trying to beat lights without breaking the law, while doing their best to respect the space of pedestrians.
"I think for me making this left turn is like the hardest," said Agnes Kang. "There’s so much congestion especially at like 5 P.M. or whatever when everybody is getting off work."
"Those who are turning or those who are going straight. They don’t get the chance to so when the light changes then they turn but people are crossing," said Shanda Serrano.
"Really frustrating to be able to turn here because its like the light it goes from cross to stop and then it goes to the crosswalk again so its really tricky to make turns," said Craig Pankow. Earlier this week Pankow watched a tricky turn, turn into an accident. "Someone was trying to make a left-hand turn and bang!"
Pedestrians say they too have seen many close calls.
"We could be standing on the corner here and cars can just easily clip us," said Kamaile.
"I think people rushing and if people are crossing the street others want to make a right hand turn they’ll bang a pedestrian," added Lisa Tsugawa.
"And then you’ve got to look every which way to go," said Dolde. "So the driver got to look, the pedestrian got to look but sometime maybe the pedestrian not looking."
And cooler heads don’t always prevail.
"Many times I’ve yelled too and I’ve walked slow on purpose," said Kamaile. "You know I don’t mean to but you know it does send the message to the drivers."
"There’s so much going on in this intersection so people are like looking at other things too so it’s a lot going on," said Miyashita.
Thursday we head to Kilauea Avenue in Kaimuki where residents have witnessed much tragedy.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
