Every neighborhood is home to dangerous intersections but in Halawa, one in particular has been deadly. When we asked our viewers, "What is the most dangerous interesection out there," the response was overwhelming. Many emphatically said, "Halawa Heights Road and Iwaiwa Street."
People who live on Halawa Heights Road near Iwaiwa Street live in fear.
"I’m scared," said Halawa Heights Road resident Lannon Chun-Ming. "I mean I live right there at that house. I mean I’m waiting for them to take my garage out. I told my wife, in our lifetime someone is coming into our house, in their car!"
"I worry about a car coming down so fast that it flies," said Ted Kunishige who lives steps away from the intersection and has seen death and tragedy. "I would automatically start to run out and I would have a blanket out here and I would just grab it because I knew the accident would be pretty nasty."
On December 19, 2009, 23-year-old Jonathan Pons was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car in the intersection.
"Like they always say speed kills right," said Kunishige.
And it was speed that killed 40-year-old Andrew Perkins in April 2005 when his motorcycle slammed into a car and crashed into a wall. The homeowner only repaired that wall last month.
"He didn’t bother to fix the wall, everytime he would fix it another car would end up into that wall," said Kunishige. "When I saw that you were doing a report on the most dangerous intersections I kind of knew that this one was going to come up."
"The police can give out tickets left and right just standing here without even having to move, you don’t chase anybody down," said Chun-Ming. "You just sit here and watch you’ll see all the violations. You tell me that car is not going faster than the speed limit you know down hill in the rain."
Rep. Blake Oshiro says the community has pleaded with the state for years for a traffic signal.
"They denied that after a study they said it wasn’t warranted," said Oshiro. "We asked for flashing lights, warning signals, they said it wasn’t warranted for that."
What the state did do is add striping and crews moved a crosswalk mauka of Iwaiwa Street. But residents says that poses a new problem because it sits below a bus stop.
"See this bus it’s blocking the way, so when people walk across the street boom," said Chun-Ming. "Man you got to run. These are not crosswalks that where you walk. It’s a cross-run. Right, so you run!"
Chun-Ming says it comes down to people caring.
"It’s just total disrespect, total disrespect. People will look right at your and they’ll just go! They don’t care."
Wednesday at five, an intersection on busy Keeaumoku Street that frustrates drivers and pedestrians everyday.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
