Cops mean it: Slow down!

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Traffic fatalities, racing on freeways and speeding on city streets have prompted Honolulu police to start a new initiative that gives each district commander 1,000 hours of additional overtime to combat the problem.

•	See a review of "The Fast and the Furious" in TGIF.

The program, begun June 14, comes amid heightened awareness of the dangers of speeding: Two weeks ago, an 18-year-old boy died when his car flew off the H-1 Freeway during a street race.

It also comes as a new movie, "The Fast and the Furious," puts the spotlight on street racing. The movie opened in theaters yesterday.

Josh Coleon saw the movie Tuesday night at a special preview at the Kahala Mall. During the preview, the parking lot was filled with souped-up Acuras, Hondas, Toyotas and sport motorcycles.

"All the racers went — the racing crowd, li'dat," said Coleon, a 19-year-old Windward Community College student who rides a 1999 600cc Yamaha sport bike. "Afterward, in the parking lot, people were gunning it. You could hear people burning out and racing. The cops came after."

Some of the drivers pulled up alongside Tony Smith's 1995 Honda Civic coupe — which he tricked out with a supercharger — and gunned their engines, challenging him to a race.

"I was leaving and a lot of people were revving their motors," Smith, 24, said. "I winked at them and laughed."

Smith said that since the crash two weeks ago, he no longer races on city streets.

"That was pretty devastating," he said. "It makes you think a lot."

This year, there have been 34 traffic deaths on O'ahu.

The racing accident at the Wai'alae end of the freeway occurred in Lt. Roger Kort's district, and he was at the scene of the crash. He said it has given him and his officers added incentive to go after speeders. Teams of four to five officers are coming in for a six-hour shift on their days off specifically to catch speeders.

"We've dramatically increased our traffic enforcement," Kort said. "We have been tagging on the freeway and Kalaniana'ole Highway excessively in the last week. Last night, we stopped a couple of motorcycles going in excess of 90 mph."

Kort said no particular group of speeding drivers is being targeted. He also said his officers have noticed a decrease in the young drivers who regularly race on Honolulu streets.

But that doesn't mean they are staying at home, he said. They've just gone elsewhere.

Lt. Grant Arakawa, a watch commander at the Pearl City substation, said the young speeders are a regular problem, but he also has seen a slight decrease in recent days.

"It has kind of gone down, but we do have kids speeding in those racers," he said. "It's unbelievable, weaving in and out of traffic. They have no concept of the danger."

Arakawa said the 1,000 extra hours may not add much to the effort, which already had been increased this year throughout the department.

"We've stepped up our efforts to curtail speeding," he said. "We are assigning officers to high-visibility patrols to curtail things. We are also stepping up laser patrols ... doing whatever we can to slow these kids down."

At the Kalihi substation, Maj. Stephen Kornegay said he wants his officers to be seen by drivers. They are focusing on drunken driving and speeding, two factors that have been a part of two-thirds of this year's traffic fatalities, he said.

"We are just hoping to make an impact," he said. "But I have noticed driving to and from work, it seems like the majority of vehicles are slowing down on major roadways."

Kornegay isn't sure how young drivers will react to seeing "The Fast and the Furious." Any time a movie like this hits theaters, police are concerned that young drivers might cross the double yellow line between fact and fantasy.

"Movies are designed to be entertainment," he said. "They are fantasy. Becoming involved in a fatal collision is not fantasy. It is all too real. It is a nightmare, and I hope people will keep that in mind when they see the movie."

Staff writer Dan Nakaso contributed to this report.