A recent survey of Hawaii motorists found an overall consensus that driver courtesy has declined.
More than two-thirds of 435 island drivers surveyed by First Insurance Co. of Hawaii over the summer said their fellow drivers are less courteous today than five years ago. Many also noted that their courtesy on the road is often not acknowledged, which in Hawaii is usually with a wave or a shaka.
The top five complaints cited include drivers who signal late or not at all; weaving in and out of traffic; tailgating; not allowing others to merge; and talking on cellphones while driving.
To foster more courteous driving, First Insurance this month launched the “Take the HI Road” campaign.
“Driver courtesy — or the perceived lack of it — is a passionate topic of conversation,” First Insurance President and CEO Todd Takayama said in a statement. “These are the conversations we are hoping to tap into and engage our community in.”
The online campaign, which runs through Nov. 16, invites drivers to share acts of courtesy on the road in hopes that it starts a chain reaction of further courteous actions. Those who participate will be entered into a drawing for a Car Pack that includes a trunk caddy, tumbler and flashlight, among other items.
“In addition to spotlighting the importance of driver courtesy,” said Takayama, “we want to give Hawaii drivers a way to share the good and courteous things happening on our roads so that together we can spark a positive change in driving behaviors and make our roads safer. Courteous drivers are safer drivers.”
But many seem to agree that driver courtesy today compared with years past is on the downslide.
When the topic was posted to local readers on X, formerly Twitter, many cited increasing incidents of rudeness, impatience, cutting others off, speeding, aggression — and just plain craziness on Hawaii roadways.
“So many more people driving like jerks especially during rush hour,” wrote Bill Bohan in response.
Another resident said “nobody flies the shaka” anymore, which used to be automatic and a way to de-escalate potential road rage incidents. Some attributed this to the greater number of malihini, or newcomers, to the islands who have no idea what the shaka means.
Linda Mason responded that in the past, drivers were overly polite, slowing traffic. “Now it’s who can bully their way ahead of you at the light, ignore who has the right of way,” she wrote.
Others say drivers seem more agitated after coming out of the early pandemic lockdown period.
Accidents more severe
Nationally, statistics from LexisNexis show that auto claim severity — or the severity of accidents — is up dramatically over pre-pandemic rates, according to a recent article in the Insurance Journal.
A report on U.S. auto insurance trends found traffic plummeted at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 and that motorists tended to speed on open roads. Since then, traffic in the U.S. has returned to nearly pre-pandemic levels, but motorists are still speeding as if the roads are empty.
“During the height of the pandemic, there were fewer cars on the road, so not surprisingly, claims went down, but we did see severity go up,” said Kaela Wasnich, senior corporate communications specialist at First Insurance. “People were speeding.”
Wasnich said she did not have local data for auto claim severity but that she would not be surprised if the trends in Hawaii mirrored those at the national level.
Also, a string of multivehicle collisions on Hawaii’s freeways earlier this summer brought the issue to the forefront.
Within a 48-hour span in August, there were collisions that resulted in multiple fatalities, including a rear-ender on H-1 freeway and a head-on crash on Honoapiilani Highway on Maui.
Maj. Stason Tanaka, Honolulu Police Department traffic division commander, urged residents at the time to drive with aloha, noting the majority of traffic fatalities involved either speeding — particularly with motorcyclists — or alcohol or drug impairment.
But the fatal collisions continued throughout summer into fall, and Oahu’s traffic-related fatalities so far this year surpass those from 2022.
From Jan. 1 to Oct. 18, there have been 44 traffic-related fatalities on Oahu, compared with 38 at the same time in 2022, according to preliminary statistics from the state Department of Transportation. For Oahu the highest number of traffic fatalities, 17, have involved motorcycle/scooter operators.
Statewide, there were 76 traffic-related fatalities, compared with 91 during the same time period in 2022. The lower overall numbers reflect lower trends for Hawaii and Kauai counties.
This month Honolulu police reported two fatal solo collisions – one near the airport and the other at Ko Olina — involving drivers taking offramps at high speed.
Courtesy and acknowledgment
Survey findings point to the degeneration of courtesy and acknowledgement on Hawaii roads.
First Insurance last conducted a survey on driver courtesy in 2012, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, but decided to revive it this year, Wasnich said, after employees discussed what they were experiencing on the road.
This year only 45% of drivers polled say their courtesy is acknowledged, most or every time, down from 90% from the 2012 poll. But 75% said they appreciate it when another driver acknowledges their courtesy on the road.
“This isn’t a scientific study,” said Wasnich. “If we take that at face value, it sounds like people aren’t acknowledging courtesy as much as they used to, and this is an opportunity to bring it back. That’s what the campaign is about.”
The First Insurance survey also found that 85% of drivers polled said they have witnessed other drivers talking while driving with cellphones to the ear, while 76% have seen texting while driving — both of which are prohibited in Hawaii.
When polled on behaviors observed on roads in the past three months, 65% of drivers checked honking at others in anger, 48% checked making obscene gestures and 33% checked getting out of the vehicle to confront others.
Most drivers tended to think better of their own driving courtesy than those of others — most gave themselves a B grade for their driving courtesy but gave others a C grade.
The “Take the HI Road” campaign has so far brought in more than a dozen responses from drivers citing examples of courtesy.
These include drivers letting others merge during rush hour or stopping and flashing their headlights to let someone in during heavy traffic. One driver said they got two shakas in one day.
BY THE NUMBERS
Survey finds driver courtesy in Hawaii has declined:
>> 68% feel the overall level of courtesy on roads has declined over the past five years.
>> 85% say they have witnessed other drivers talking with cellphones to the ear.
>> 33% say they have witnessed other drivers getting out of their vehicles to confront others.
>> 45% of drivers polled say their courtesy is acknowledged most or every time, down from 90% from the 2012 poll.
>> 75% said they appreciate it when another driver acknowledges their courtesy on the road.
Source: FICOH survey
TRAFFIC-RELATED DEATHS IN HAWAII, JAN. 1 TO OCT. 18:
STATE (76 TOTAL):
>> 28 motor vehicle occupants
>> 17 pedestrians
>> 23 motorcycle and scooter operators
>> 7 bicyclists
>> 1 ATV operator
HONOLULU COUNTY (44 TOTAL):
>> 16 motor vehicle occupants
>> 7 pedestrians
>> 17 motorcycle/scooter operators
>> 4 bicyclists
HAWAII COUNTY (14 TOTAL):
>> 7 motor vehicle occupants
>> 3 pedestrians
>> 2 motorcycle/ scooter operators
>> 1 bicyclist
>> 1 ATV operator
MAUI COUNTY (15 TOTAL):
>> 5 motor vehicle occupants
>> 5 pedestrians
>> 3 motorcycle/scooter operators
>> 2 bicyclists
KAUAI COUNTY (3 TOTAL):
>> 2 pedestrians
>> 1 motorcycle operator
Source: State Department of Transportation
