The crosswalk where 17-year-old Victoria Arellano was hit, isn’t the only one in Pearl City residents are worried about. There are concerns about others on Waimano Home Road.
Further down Waimano Home Road is Manana Community Park. This is one of the areas where residents say additional pedestrian safety measures are needed.
“We have a public library. We have a place where kids come to play, and it’s 35 and these people do not do 35, they do 50,” said Rex Howard, a Pearl City resident.
Howard says he’s had a couple of close calls at the crosswalk near the entrance of the park.
“Within …36 inches of being dead right here at this crosswalk,” said Howard. “This man was on the cell phone and nearly took me out. Literally, it was too close. He didn’t even know I was there. It was a blind side.”
Further up Waimano Home Road, near the Moanalua Road intersection, is another mid-block crosswalk that residents are worried about.
“The one nearest to the intersection is a 70 percent chance that an incident will occur,” said Howard. “The closeness to the intersection makes it where people aren’t even looking for people in the crosswalk. They’re looking at other cars.”
“I don’t want to say it but I think they should take the crosswalk away because of the location, it’s kind of dangerous because of the speed and just the location is not a good location,” said another resident Paul Iha.
The neighborhood board says the city has plans to remove that mid-block crosswalk, but it hasn’t happened yet. However, even if it is removed, residents say that’s not enough.
“What we need here is either a flashing yellow warning sign or a reduction in the speed limit to 25 with signs that say pedestrian crossing,” said Howard.
