Question: It seems there have been numerous accidents on the H-3 freeway recently, and I’m thinking it may be partly due to the 60 mph speed limit. Are there any statistics to compare accident occurrences on the roadways of the three tunnels: H-3 and the Pali and Likelike highways?
Answer: The state Department of Health doesn’t have motor vehicle crash statistics specifically zeroing in on speed limits.
If you look at the number of serious accidents along the three roadways from 2007 to 2014, the fewest number occurred along the H-3, which has the highest maximum speed limit.
However, the numbers were very close.
In that seven-year period, there were 249 "crashes" attended by Emergency Medical Services personnel along the H-3, from the Halawa Interchange to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, said Daniel Galanis, epidemiologist with the Health Department’s Injury Prevention and Control Section.
(That figure includes incidents involving three bicyclists, two pedestrians and 42 mopeds/motorcycles.)
By comparison, there were 264 EMS-attended crashes along Likelike Highway and 452 on Pali Highway over the same time period, he said.
For general information about motor vehicle crashes on Oahu, Galanis pointed to the Department of Health’s online interactive map of EMS-attended accidents from 2007 to 2014: arcg.is/11PoDV3.
The map plots the latitude and longitude of the 911 caller reporting the crash, "which we generally assume to be the crash location," he said.
He pointed to the tools on the upper right side of the page.
Clicking on "layer list" will allow you to display crashes separately by their mode — cars and trucks, motorcycles, bicyclists and pedestrians — as well as see the year of occurrence.
"Clicking on any individual dot will also bring up additional data on that crash," Galanis explained, with the dot sizes being proportional to the number of crashes at a particular location.
The Health Department has "reliable information" only on factors such as alcohol and speeding from fatal crashes but doesn’t have that data mapped beyond 2012, he said.
"In general, higher speed environments translate to more serious crashes, although some of that impact is mitigated by factors such as occupant restraint use, airbag deployment and occupant personal characteristics," Galanis said.
H-3 Crashes
These are the crash figures compiled by the Health Department for the H-3 freeway from 2007 through 2014:
» 2007: 33 (including four motorcycles/mopeds)
» 2008: 30 (including two bicyclists and two motorcycles/mopeds)
» 2009: 16 (including three motorcycles/mopeds)
» 2010: 49 (including nine motorcycles/mopeds and one pedestrian)
» 2011: 31 (including seven motorcycles/mopeds)
» 2012: 27 (including four motorcycles/mopeds and one pedestrian)
» 2013: 27 (including five motorcycles/mopeds)
» 2014: 36 (including eight motorcycles/mopeds and one bicyclist)
Mahalo
To the policeman ticketing red-light runners at the intersection fronting Kukui Plaza. That right-turn lane from Beretania into Nuuanu going mauka is "Right on Green Arrow Only." Instead of stopping, many drivers run the red light day and night, cutting through the crosswalk in front of and behind pedestrians. We were so happy to see a policeman there stopping and ticketing drivers who ran the red. We hope HPD will assign an officer to that location at least occasionally. — Grateful Pedestrians
Mahalo
To Principal Frederick Murphy of Mililani High for helping me up and making sure I got home safely after I fell and scraped my knee during my daily morning walk. I hope all schools have principals as caring and kind as Mr. Murphy. — Grateful Walker
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