Even worse, he wondered if the next car speeding down the road would smash into his stranded truck, killing him instantly.

His 2004-model truck had struck a small boulder washed onto the roadway. The dashboard had been driven back, breaking his left thigh bone in three places. Waiting for more than an hour before the first help arrived, he had lost half his blood.

"Being a physician for more than 25 years, I know too much about what happens in those situations to not be worried," Gray said. "I was fortunate to have survived."

Now back at work, Gray is part of a growing community of doctors and others who are concerned about roadway dangers in Hawai'i County and are pushing state and county officials to do more to address the problem.

Jerry Gray

Gray's night of terror, March 22, 2004, began after a busy shift at the Hilo Medical Center, where he has worked for about two years.

Finishing at 11:30 p.m. Gray set out for his home about 17 miles away on the Hamakua coast, unaware that it had rained almost 10 inches that day.

With the rain continuing and visibility poor, he drove cautiously, often staying under the 45-mph minimum speed limit and pausing several times to let more aggressive drivers pass.

As he got farther from Hilo, he had the road to himself and increased his speed to 45 mph.

"Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. My left front tire had struck a large rock in the road, tearing the left front wheel and axle off," he said.

His truck veered hard to the left and struck the rock cliff bordering the road. His airbags deployed, the driver's-side window shattered and the dashboard was driven back, badly injuring his leg.

"Oh, my," he remembers saying out loud as the accident took its course.

His first fear was that the next car driving down the road would smash into his truck. What he didn't know, though, was that another landslide a little farther back had blocked the road, not allowing anyone to even find him for more than an hour.

When Gray was taken by ambulance back to the emergency room he had just left, officials had trouble locating a doctor with the expertise he needed. He had to be transferred to North Hawai'i Community Hospital in Waimea for surgery the next day.

It took six months of rehabilitation before Gray could return to work. The only lingering effects, he says, are a better ability to predict the weather and a slight limp after another long day at work.

Even today, though, he doesn't feel safe on the road.

"I was driving just above the speed limit and being as careful as I know how," Gray said. "It is nearly impossible to see black rocks on a black road on a dark night. Even if I had seen them, there was no way to avoid hitting them.

"The cliffs bordering the road at this location are unstable, cut at a near 90-degree angle and easily loosened by the rain. The 2-foot shoulder is inadequate to allow space for either the falling of debris or an avoidance maneuver.

"The coastal road here is inherently dangerous in its design. As more people move into this area that was once dominated by canefields, these road conditions will inevitably cause death and injury."

Green said he has had a couple of solicitations to sue someone over the road's design, but as a doctor familiar with the problem of malpractice insurance, he's not interested in a lawsuit.

"I notice in other islands that they are doing things to prevent rockfalls," he said. "There are a lot things they could do here to help. They need to do a better job of that."