Use of H-1 as speedway frustrates many

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer

Elaine Leong says the H-1 straightaway near her home in Waiawa frequently becomes a speedway after midnight, a situation that for years has left her and many of her neighbors shocked, frustrated and outraged.

Alex Leong has seen the aftermath of "multiple accidents" from the Waiawa overpass near his home, but yesterday's, he said, was the worst. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It's hard to describe the sound," said Leong, who within seconds had dialed 911 and yelled to her husband that something bad had just happened on the freeway.

"The sliding sounds were unreal," she said. "And then there was this boom. And crash and explosion was so loud. I told the cops, 'It's really bad.' "

Meanwhile, Leong's husband, Alex, had dashed to the H-1 overpass a short distance from the couple's home on the hillside at College Gardens townhouse complex. He described the scene on the highway as an inferno.

"It wasn't just fire," he said. "It was like a tunnel of fire. It was like gasses shooting. I'd never saw a fire like that before. I knew it had to be three vehicles in this tunnel of fire. From what I saw, when I came back I said, 'They're gone. Definitely. Anybody in there — they're gone.'"

Alex Leong said in nine years of living in the same location he has seen the aftermath of "multiple accidents" from the overpass, although yesterday's four-person fatality was the worst yet.

The reason for the carnage: "Speeding and racing," he said.

Keith Nakama's home at 96-186 Waiawa Road sits parallel to the Waiawa Stream and the freeway about 50 yards away. He has lived his whole life in the area. He says car and motorcycle racing on the H-1 by his place has been going on for more years than he can remember.

He described the racers as "crazy," said they don't care about the consequences of their actions and have no regard for their own lives or those of others.

"If I had my way, these guys get caught racing, I'd ban them from driving — for like, five years," he said. "First time. No second chance. They get caught racing, they lose their license for five years.

"Because, mostly it's young kids who are doing it. So, maybe after five years they'll grow up."

Lynn Defebaugh, who lives up the road from Nakama, can't see the freeway from his home, but says he hears everything. Yesterday, at around 9 a.m., he peered through binoculars at the crash site from the same overpass where Leong had stood hours before.

He watched quietly as the last of the bodies was pulled from the tangled wreckage.

Defebaugh said the racing begins regularly after midnight and peaks between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m., when traffic is the lightest, because racers like a clear track. Nothing gets done about it because the police have their hands tied, according to him.

"We all agree that it goes on here, but what can you do about it?" said Defebaugh, shaking his head. "We need to pressure the Legislature to pass tougher laws. Other states confiscate the cars, your insurance goes out of sight, maybe you lose your license. Those are the only things that are going to be a deterrent.

"Police here can't do anything about it because of the liability. If there's a wreck while the police are in pursuit, the police are automatically blamed."

Plabio Alipio, who also lives beside the highway close to where the accident happened, says the majority of the time he hears motorcycles racing nearby.

"I don't know what you can do about it," said Alipio. "They have cameras on the bridges. Maybe they could monitor them better. But it's hard to control because they're moving so fast. By the time you see it, they're gone."

Elaine Leong confesses that she's mystified about why people keep racing on the H-1 near her home, or why authorities seem powerless to make it end. "I don't know what could slow these guys down," she said. "It happens over and over. What would stop it? I wish I could answer that question."

Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.