The recent report by AARP - Hawaii on the problems with crosswalks, the timing of traffic lights and the poor condition of some sidewalks does highlight the challenges facing pedestrians. It is dangerous to be a pedestrian on Oahu and far too many people get killed simply trying to cross the street.

Part of the problem is wide varying conditions in different parts of the island. Crossing Farrington Highway is quite a bit different than crossing South King Street. Drivers approach these areas differently and are more on-guard for pedestrians on King than Farrington Hwy, the latter of which most people consider to be a real highway, which it isn’t. But they drive like it is.

This difference also applies to the intersection of Kapiolani Boulevard and Kalakaua Avenue which was one of the focal points of the AARP study. That is a very difficult intersection that requires a pedestrian to cross Kapiolani Blvd twice and Kalakaua Ave once to get from the Hard Rock Café to the Convention Center or vice versa. As a result many pedestrians jaywalk across in traffic to cross Kalakaua Ave.

As someone who lives in Waikiki and travels these roads regularly I see such things every day. The article in the Honolulu Advertiser dated August 1, 2006 detailing the AARP report noted that 53 percent of the drivers failed to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk but one has to wonder to what extent this tells the whole story.

One person interviewed who walks regularly in Waikiki was quoted as saying, “I've seen older men and women crossing against the light.” Her statement is accurate but it isn’t limited to “older” pedestrians, (although her point was probably that it takes them longer to cross with the light.)

In Waikiki the truth is closer to pedestrians pay attention to the walk signals only when they have to because they fear for their safety. Try making a right turn from Kalakaua Ave to Royal Hawaiian to see what I mean. If a limo is waiting to turn and people are dashing across the intersection as the light is turning yellow then only one car is going to able to make that turn on one cycle of the light.

I have had people step off the curb against a red light without even bothering to look to see if a car is coming. This is particularly true where Kaiulani Ave crosses Kuhio Ave. People walking along Kuhio Ave pay no attention to the signal. I’ve even had people who’ve looked up, seen me entering the intersection with the green and step off the curb in front of my car anyway.

This isn’t to say we don’t have a problem with drivers not being courteous enough to pedestrians but all of these circumstances create a certain frustration for drivers. There is enough blame to go around and we all need to be more careful, and patient. Drivers crossing in front of pedestrians in an illegal fashion and pedestrians dashing across the street to make the light are all symptoms of the same thing, impatience.

There are also other hazards that weren’t noted in the Advertiser article but also factor into the problem. Going back to South King, since I travel it so much, I have lost track of the number times I came to the intersection at S. King and McCully to make a right turn and someone on a bicycle just dove off the sidewalk without looking to continue straight along S. King.

But the real problem that Oahu has with its crosswalks is the way they are laid out. Every other place I have ever lived crosswalks are solid white stripes that go from one side of the road to the other. Pedestrians walk between the two stripes.

For some reason we don’t do it that way here. The crosswalks are wide solid white lines that are in the same direction as the car is traveling and the driver is looking. This may not seem a significant thing but it creates an optical illusion. All the lines are running the same way. The person who is standing between the white stripes is effectively invisible. This has happened to me, at midday, on S. King with very little traffic. There is always the sense of “Where did he come from?”

With two stripes running from curb to curb on one side of the street to the other a person standing in the crosswalks breaks the second line. The discrepancy is registered by the mind and the driver looks to see why. That’s when the person becomes truly visible. Maybe there is a reason they do it differently in other places. It works.

The other problem is placing these poorly designed crosswalks between intersections with no crossing light to control traffic. There are several of these along S. King. With the greater penalties for violating crosswalk laws pedestrians feel empowered. They march across the street thinking they are protected by the law not realizing the drivers cannot always see them.

So while our elected officials are trying to figure out how to increase penalties on drivers, they may be overlooking the structural reasons that contribute to Hawaii having so many pedestrian fatalities. There has to be more reasons than just that Hawaii drivers are discourteous to pedestrians. Perhaps the problem is structural, such as traffic lights that are too short for pedestrians to cross safely. Or the crosswalks are poorly designed. But the onus should not all be on drivers.

Ref:

http://tinyurl.com/gapbv

Don Newman, senior policy analyst for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii can be reached at: mailto:don@grassrootinstitute.org