Freeway pileup tangles insurance
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Since no crime was involved, determining who's responsible for Thursday's massive 42-car pileup on H-1 Freeway will be an insurance headache rather than a police issue.
"It's going to be a real nightmare and challenge for insurance companies," said Tim Dayton, general manager of GEICO Insurance in Hawai'i. "There are many, many issues and pieces that need to come together."
The collisions began at 8:10 a.m. in the eastbound lanes near the Pearl City/Waimalu off-ramp. No one was seriously hurt.
Basically, Dayton said, it's a case-by-case procedure. Eight of the 42 drivers, for example, have auto insurance with GEICO, he added.
"Let's say you were driving a car that collided with another car in front of you and someone hit you from behind," Dayton said. "Are you responsible for damage to your own car and the one in front of you?"
That's what the insurance companies will be dealing with. "This is much more common on the Mainland in icy situations but in my 14 years here, we've never had to deal with anything of this magnitude that I know of," Dayton said.
Nelson Fujio, owner of Auto Fender Clinic in Kaka'ako, said determining fault for every single collision Thursday will present a "domino effect" that will take a lot of effort to unravel. "It's clear when you can determine who started the chain reaction but this one is going to be a nightmare," Fujio said.
Property damage rather than medical will be the key issue since most people have medical insurance to cover injuries, Dayton noted.
"The big issue is going to be car repair," he said. "It's easier to reach an agreement when two or three cars are involved, but 42 will be difficult to piece together. Out of the 42, you can count of the fact that someone won't have insurance or is underinsured."
Dayton recommends that drivers whose vehicles were damaged in the pileup pay the deductible and get the repair work done using their own insurance to avoid delays.
"People always want the other person to pay for the repair work but this is going to be a long, complicated issue," he said. "It's going to take too long. My advice is let the insurance companies work on it and hassle it out. The system will work it out."
Those motorists who don't have collision insurance are going to have a big problem, especially if they are responsible for another car's damage.
Dayton expects it will take a couple of months to resolve the issue.
Police, meanwhile, took statements from 42 drivers and are not involved in determining who's at fault because there's no crime, said Pearl City Patrol District commander Maj. Bryan Wauke.
Stone Ridge Towing towed 17 cars from the scene. Two vehicles were towed to their owners' homes and 15 were still at the company's yard on Kamehameha Highway yesterday morning.
Police said rainy weather and driver inattention probably contributed to the massive pileup. Paramedics took eight people to various hospitals, said Ron Yamada, a district chief with the city's Emergency Medical Services. All were treated and released. Paramedics reported mostly neck and back injuries.
