Island Voices
Crosswalk priority should go to cars

By The Rev. Samuel M. Smith
Kailua resident

I read that the state Legislature is considering new laws to supposedly save pedestrian lives and impose a heavy penalty against drivers who do not stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.

This would send exactly the wrong message to pedestrians and would increase rather than decrease pedestrian traffic fatalities.

The laws of physics say that in order for an automobile weighing a certain amount and with so much rubber tire in contact with the road, plus reaction time of the driver and the quality of the braking system to stop, requires a certain amount of distance. Making a law that cars must stop for pedestrians in crosswalks says to pedestrians that since the cars must stop, therefore they can go. People are killed every day because of the California law, the only such law I know of anywhere in the United States or the world, for that matter, that gives that impression to pedestrians.

Here in Hawai‘i, the existing law does need to be made clear to the public, both the drivers and pedestrians, that automotive traffic, because of the law of physics, has to have the right-of-way and pedestrians must go behind, not in front of, cars. I was taught this from my early childhood, and I still get upset when drivers from California slow or stop instead of letting me go at my own pace, for I will not go in front of them unless others are already doing so.

Keep to the legal speed and don't slow down for me. Please. I will stop and even go back to the same curb I started from until the car goes by. As a pedestrian, it is and should be up to me to see and avoid the car. That is the way it is in 48 of the 50 states and most of the rest of the world.

I made the suggestion to the Legislature that there are two sensible courses of action:

End present confusion in which many pedestrians, especially those from California, think that no matter whether the car can stop or not, it must. Make the law like most other states: pedestrians watch out for cars.

In some cases, like the Pali Highway in the Nu‘uanu section, overhead or underground crosswalks, such as those that already exist near the Hong Wan Gi Temple and Kuakini Street would be real lifesavers.

These are the ways to save lives. Please use common sense in this. Drivers not stopping for pedestrians is crazy.

[back to top]