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Rich Ambo of the Honolulu Advertiser reports that "[a] 54-year-old woman was struck and killed in a Kalihi crosswalk by a Roberts Hawaii school bus this morning and remained pinned under the bus for more than an hour after the collision." The incident happened at about 6 a.m. and the victim was pronounced dead at about 6:20 a.m. The location of the incident was Gulick Avenue at North King Street. A photo of the scene is courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser story.

When Pedestrians Die

According to the news story nothing explains the cause of the tragic incident. No drugs or alcohol are suspected and the driver of the Robert’s school bus had a clean record from what we know know. A Robert’s bus was also involved in the death of Richard Tasaka, 63, who was hit and killed in a crosswalk in the McCully area. Another Pedestrian Death In Beretania Street Crosswalk . Mr Tasaka’s death was also reported in the Honolulu Advertiser.

I have written too frequently this year about pedestrian injury and death cases on Oahu and throughout Hawaii.

The Hawaii Pedestrian Crosswalk Safety Chronicles: Innovative Solution for Crosswalk Safety

Crosswalk Automobile Pedestrian Collision On Queen Emma Street Seriously Injures Two Girls

Pedestrian Personal Injury Epidemic – Looking For Answers;

Automobile Strikes Man On Sidewalk Along Kalanianaole Resulting In Serious Personal Injury;

Pedestrian Critically Injured After Being Hit By Car On Farrington in Maili.

Hawaii Crosswalk Safety Chronicles: In Praise of the Honolulu Advertiser’s By the numbers

I cannot understand how these incidents occur. The bus is a large object and easy to see. The pedestrian is equally easy to see in a crosswalk. There was nothing that I know of hindering the view of either driaver or pedestrian. I have a theory, backed by a traffic safety expert I know from California, that pedestrians walk in front of cars thinking that "because they are in a crosswalk" it is their right to walk and that the car or bus must stop. If the driver can’t see the pedestrian because of clothing color or if the driver looks away for an instant, the pedestrian may be in the right but often times the result is the death of the pedestrian.

Pedestrians, please look up and make sure that cars are stopping when you enter a crosswalk. Don’t try to beat a speeding car! And drivers, please slow down when you see the hatched lines of a crosswalk. Hitting a pedestrian will alter both lives, yours and the epdestrian’s life will never be the same.

Crosswalks are not safety zones. They are danger zones.

According to the Honolulu Advertiser report:

The bus driver and an aide were heading to make their first pick-up of the morning of nine public school children with special needs, said Roberts Hawaii spokesman Wally Zimmermann. When the crash occurred, only the driver and an aide were on the bus, Zimmermann said." No students were on the bus as it turned in the Ewa direction from Gulick onto North School Street. Four Honolulu fire units were called to extract the woman’s body from the bus.

Results of a blood alcohol taken from the driver are pending release.

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