But on Monday night, a Nissan Altima crossed into her path. Tandal could see its headlights coming at the Ford Explorer she was driving. They were coming fast. Way too fast.

She doesn’t remember a lot about what happened next. Tandal’s boyfriend, seated beside her, said she screamed.

The impact killed four people in the Altima.

"I knew they were traveling pretty fast," the 18-year-old Tandal said today. "I only remember seeing them about 40 or 50 feet away."

She was knocked unconscious by the collision, which happened shortly after 7 p.m. near the Makaha Surfside apartments. Her left elbow and right wrist were broken and she was bruised, too, but otherwise OK. Her 19-year-old boyfriend, Jon Aquino, suffered abrasions to the left side of his face, cuts in one eye, deep bruises on chest and legs. But he’s OK, too.

Three people in the Altima were pronounced dead at the scene, another a short time later at the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. One other Altima passenger was hospitalized at The Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition.

Killed were Verna Leina'a Eli, 24; Tina Vaesa'u, 18; and brothers Joshua Mendoza, 20, and Christopher Tacut, 21 (who used his mother’s last name). Critically injured was Vaesa'u’s boyfriend, who like her, had worked at Del Monte for only one day.

Tandal and Aquino had gone on a dinner run for her parents, both of whom are veteran Honolulu police officers. The accident was less than a half mile from their home.

She turned left off of Makaha Valley Road and onto the highway. Aquino said he was trying to put his seat belt on; he’s not sure he ever did.

"I tried to swerve to dodge it," Tandal said. "I didn’t think anything happened. But when I came to, I was looking around and everything was smashed. I knew I was in an accident but I didn’t understand what happened. I looked over at Jon and his head was bleeding. I thought: 'Oh my God …’ "

At some point she was able to call her mother, police Capt. Debbie Tandal.

"I said: 'Are you all right?’ She said: 'No,’ " Debbie Tandal said today.

She got there in minutes. The ambulance had not yet arrived. A former patrol officer, Debbie Tandal had been to scenes like this "way too many times."

She ran to her daughter’s side of the sport utility vehicle.

"There were a couple of people laying in the roadway," Debbie Tandal said. "One was wrapped around my front tire."

Her first thought was that her daughter had hit someone crossing the highway.

"It was such a mess," she said. "She was disoriented, but talking."

Her daughter kept asking who was driving the SUV and if anyone was hurt.

A Ford Explorer is a formidable vehicle, but Tandal said it was the seat belt across her daughter’s torso that saved her life. When it pulled tight against Pua Tandal, it left an 8-inch bruise.

"I told her the most beautiful mark I saw was the bruise on her chest from the seat belt," Debbie Tandal said. "I know that was something that saved her life."

The people in the Altima were friends who had ended their work day in the fields Monday with good times on their minds. They left in the Nissan Altima, as did another friend, Peter De La Cruz, 25. "We all work together in Kunia for Del Monte," said De La Cruz. "We’re all in the same crew. They left the job site before me. Then I left like 10 minutes later."

Three men and two wom en left in the Altima. De La Cruz drove away in his 1988 Honda Accord. He said the six intended to meet up later in Makaha at a two story duplex on Farrington Highway where four of the Altima occupants lived.

They never reached their destination. Shortly after 7 p.m., the Altima, speeding along Farrington Highway near the Makaha Surfside apartments, collided with the Ford Explorer traveling in the opposite direction.

Witnesses have said the Altima and Accord were racing. De La Cruz insists the witnesses have it wrong.

"I’m the only one who saw everything and I know what I’m talking about," he said Tuesday night. "People came after the thing happened. That’s when everybody started coming around."

What actually happened, he said, was that the Altima whizzed past him going 100 mph a short distance beyond Wai'anae Intermediate School. De La Cruz said he was driving about 50 mph and had no idea the Altima was behind him.

He said he watched as the Altima spun around and slammed into the SUV. "I jumped out of my car and ran over there to the car, and I tried to help them but they was down," he said.