DRIVE TIME
Weekend festivities, recreational runs may tie up traffic
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Transportation notes from here and there:
City officials are warning drivers to watch out for an unusual number of parades, walks and other street closures for this weekend. Seven events that could delay traffic are planned for Saturday and Sunday. They are:
- Walk for Jesus Parade. 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday, from Ulehawa Beach Park to Nanakuli Beach Park on Farrington Highway.
- Visitor Industry Charity Walk. 6-9 a.m. Saturday. Some 9,000 runners/walkers going from Ala Moana Park to Kapi'olani Park and back.
- Buddha's Birthday Celebration. 10-11 a.m. Saturday. 'A'ala Park to River Street Mall.
- Windward Half Marathon. 6-8:30 a.m. Sunday. Enchanted Lake Elementary School to Old Mokapu Road and back.
- Sugar Mill Fun Walk/Run. 7-10 a.m. Sunday. Blaisdell Park to Waipi'o Point Access Road and back.
- Brunch on the Beach. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday. Kalakaua Avenue, from Ka'iulani Avenue to Lili'uokalani Avenue.
- Holy Ghost Religious Procession. 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Kaumuali'i Street to Pu'uhale Road to St. Anthony Church and back.
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Information to help you get around O'ahu: • TheBus: For schedules and other information, call 848-5555 or visit www.thebus.org. • Vanpool Hawai'i: 596-8267 • Trafficam: Check out traffic conditions at more than 20 major intersections around Honolulu. • Road work:
While pedestrian deaths remain a big concern in Hawai'i, the number of similar cases across the country has dropped dramatically in the last 25 years.
Commuting
Since 1975, pedestrian deaths in America declined 51 percent, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The greatest progress has been made among pedestrians age 9 and younger, whose death rates have dropped 80 percent since 1975. Nationwide, pedestrian deaths account for about 11 percent of all traffic fatalities.
Last year, nearly 30 percent of the 74 fatal traffic accidents on O'ahu involved pedestrians.
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The City Council's Planning and Transportation committees are expected to discuss parts of the city's Bus Rapid Transit plan in a 2:30 p.m. public hearing today.
The committees will consider a bill that establishes a publicly financed transit corridor symbol for the proposed bus system.
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Sport-utility vehicles and luxury cars are the most desirable models to consumers this year, a study shows.
About 43 percent of consumers looking for a new car would consider a sport-utility, up from 32 percent in 1996, according to market research company AutoPacific Inc. About 45 percent of car buyers expressed interest in luxury class passenger cars, an increase from 25 percent seven years ago.
"We can't say the SUV segment has crashed; in fact, we see exactly the opposite," AutoPacific President George Peterson said. Sales of sport-utilities and other light trucks in the United States — the world's largest auto market — topped passenger car sales for the first time in 2001, accounting for 51 percent of new vehicle registrations.
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Fifty-two percent of all automobile crashes occurred five miles or less from home, according to a survey by Progressive Insurance, one of the largest auto insurance companies in the country,
The company found that 23 percent of reported accidents occurred within one mile of home, while only 1 percent took place 50 miles from home.
Mike Leidemann's Drive Time column appears every Tuesday. Reach him at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
