Tougher helmet law urged after Aina Haina moped crash
One state lawmaker says she will seek tougher transportation laws after a 17-year-old moped rider was killed in a moped crash in Aina Haina on Wednesday.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office identified the boy as Hunter J.L. Ortego. An autopsy has been delayed to next week because Ortego is an organ donor.
Police said Ortego was not wearing a helmet while riding the moped, as is required for anyone under the age of 18.
At about 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, Ortego was speeding on a white 1987 moped going town-bound in the bike lane on Kalanianaole Highway, police said.
Ortego ran a red light and collided with a red 1999 Ford pickup driven by a 23-year-old Honolulu woman, police said. A witness told police the driver had the green light and was making a left turn onto East Hind Drive from the highway when the moped struck the truck.
Ortego was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition and pronounced dead shortly after.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Police said speed appears to be a factor.
State Sen. Lorraine Inouye, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Energy, said she plans to introduce new legislation next session to toughen safety requirements for bicyclists, moped riders, motorcyclists and pickup riders.
She plans to introduce legislation that would expand the moped helmet law by dropping the age requirement and requiring all riders to use helmets. She also wants to introduce legislation requiring moped riders wear protective gear such as shoes while riding mopeds on the highway.
Besides mopeds, Inouye is considering legislation requiring helmets for motorcyclists and banning riders in pickup beds. She expects such legislation will be controversial because similar legislation has failed in the past, but would like to start the discussion.
But she said traffic fatalities create gridlock for other drivers on Oahu while police investigate and people are dying.
“It’s too critical for particularly Oahu, and we already have heavy traffic,” she said. “Everything halts. More so a life has been lost.
“It’s time that we all revisit the issue,” she said.
Ortego was this year’s 42nd traffic-related fatality on Oahu compared to 51 at the same time last year.
The family has set up a fundraiser to cover funeral costs at gofundme.com/jf8srcpg.
———
Correction: Moped rider Hunter Ortega was traveling town-bound, not Makapuu-bound, when the fatal crash occurred.