Traffic creeps along the eastbound lanes of the H-1 Freeway today after three different accidents, one involving two school buses, near the Waimalu off-ramp. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Emergency workers treated 19 people, and six were taken to hospitals. The patients included four women and two males, including a 4-year-old boy, said Fire Department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo.

It was the second consecutive busy day for traffic accidents.

Today's pileups began shortly before 8 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of the freeway, near the Waimalu off-ramp.

Pearl City police had not determined a cause of the accidents, beyond the standard rush-hour mix of inattention and wet roads. However, Soo said a motorcyclist appeared to be the first vehicle involved in the chain-reaction series of crashes, which finally were cleared around 9 a.m.

Then at 9:25 a.m., another motorcyclist was hit from behind by a small pickup truck on Fort Weaver Road.

The rider, a military man, 40, suffered traumatic injuries to his torso but was conscious when he was taken by ambulance to The Queen's Medical Center, where he was listed in fair condition. Firefighters said the rider was wearing a helmet.

The H-1 jam involved 10 vehicles on the left shoulder, followed by a two-car crash and a five-car pileup on the right. Traffic slowed to a crawl but the freeway was never closed, Soo said.

Among the vehicles involved were two school buses ferrying 68 children from Mililani Baptist Preschool.

Nobody aboard the buses, bound for an outing to Sea Life Park, was injured, said school director Troy Jarrell. The trip was canceled, but there were consolations, he said.