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A recent letter from a Hawaii island resident paints a very inaccurate image of the summit of Maunakea (“Mauna Kea needs a five-year rest,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. Opens in a new tab9) Opens in a new tab.
The writer accuses summit employees of driving too fast. The speed limit on the summit access road is a blistering 25 mph, and is strongly enforced by the Maunakea Rangers when it concerns observatory vehicles and permitted tours. They have radar.
True, the rangers cannot write a ticket. A formal reprimand for the employee serves the same purpose. As a result, observatory vehicles drive 25 mph, though this may seem fast to someone uncomfortable driving the steep summit road.
Tire tracks on most of the cones? What? Driving off-road gets you a Department of Land and Natural Resources citation. It does not happen. Once in my decade on the mauna have I seen a vehicle or tracks on a summit pu‘u; it was an accident that totaled the vehicle and was cleaned up by the Maunakea Rangers, who also removed the tracks.
Andrew Cooper
Waikoloa, Hawaii island
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