TRAFFIC SAFETY

ROADWAY DANGER PART OF A BIGGER PROBLEM

I find it kind of entertaining and yet disturbing to listen to the debate about how to make our streets safer.

Some people call for more laws, while others say it's a lack of enforcement.

Either way, there is a bigger problem. It's all due to a lack of respect for others, a lack of patience, a society that encourages immediate gratification and a general disregard for laws in this country.

We're taught to get it done and get it done now. We see teachers, lawyers, doctors, police officers and our elected officials routinely break laws they should be protecting. As a result, the rest of society begins to believe it is above the law, including simple laws like jaywalking, stopping at stop signs or red lights, and yielding to pedestrians.

The danger on our roadways is just a symptom of much bigger problems that we must address.

O'AHU'S LOCAL RESIDENTS SHOULDN'T BLAME OTHERS

Lance Bateman (Letters, Feb. 26) singles out the military and visitors as the main culprits in the rash of crosswalk violations.

As a military member who has lived on O'ahu for three years and soon to retire here, I can easily point the finger at local resident as the violators. Many of my military brothers and sisters can confirm my observation.

Visitors and military personnel new to the island will more than likely be more observant of rules of the road in Hawai'i as they would be stationed overseas.

We all have a responsibility as drivers to obey the laws and be aware of our surroundings and crosswalks. Pedestrians have a responsibility to look before crossing.

The hardest thing for most people to do is to look at themselves in the mirror. Before laying blame and singling out a specific group of people, you should check your own reflection.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY MUST BE ROAD HABIT

Just nine days after a fatal accident on Kapa'a Quarry Road, I saw drivers speeding and passing other motorists on the two-lane road.

I took the road four times on that day. I observed the speed limit each time, causing a trail of several cars behind me.

I also saw an SUV approach me in the opposite lane, overtake a car and have barely enough time to return to his own lane before he whizzed by me.

How quickly some can forget a tragedy that made headline news and revert back to old habits that could cost them their lives and, more sadly, the lives of others.

In reference to editor Mark Platte's column, I agree with the writer who said that we should each take personal responsibility.

What if we each just did what was right and exercised our personal responsibility? What if we thought of others — their safety and well-being — more than ourselves?

BE MORE MINDFUL WHEN DRIVING AND WALKING

It's common sense that to avoid pedestrian accidents, pedestrians need to be aware of drivers, and drivers need to drive with care.

Perhaps, however, it needs to be spelled out.

Drivers: If you drive at the speed limit and have your full attention on your driving, then if the unexpected happens (such as a pedestrian suddenly crossing), you more than likely are prepared to respond without mishap.

Pedestrians: When you cross the street, be aware there is a good chance a speeding driver who is not paying attention will come out of nowhere and be unable to react in time to avoid hitting you.

Please, people, be more mindful.

DRIVERS USED TO SHOW ALOHA FOR PEDESTRIANS

When I came here from San Francisco in 1938, I found that drivers looked out for pedestrians, very carefully.

Their attitude was to put the pedestrian first. Watching out for the pedestrian was part of driving.

Drivers would stop if you were standing on the curb at an intersection. Drivers showed aloha for pedestrians.

That attitude gradually disappeared after World War II.

Can we return to that watchful custom?

MEDICAL CARE

ABOLISH INSURANCE TO SOLVE COST PROBLEMS

There is a cure for the rising cost of health insurance, and there is an answer to the doctors leaving the state or complaining about medical insurance reimbursements.

It's time to put an end to medical insurance. Yeah, that's right, no more third-party payments.

If everyone went back to paying cash, this problem would be over. Can it happen? Not a chance. HMSA and the others in the medical insurance lobby would never allow it. If we went back to paying cash, doctors and hospitals wouldn't have to spend millions staffing third-party payment offices.

For the naysayers who would complain about not being able to receive help, no one gets turned away from the hospitals today.

In fact, you can get full service at the emergency room, even if you aren't a legal citizen.

The insurance industry laughs itself to sleep every night, and we keep paying and paying and paying.

INITIAL ROUTE

RAIL EDITORIAL IGNORED REASON WE NEED TRANSIT

They say you should shelve a letter written in the heat of the moment until the next day. The Advertiser might well have done that with your editorial (Feb. 28) calling the City Council's transit vote "yet another disgrace."

Choosing a route that bypasses the airport amounts to building a "lemon," you say, completely ignoring the primary reason for building the project: Give O'ahu residents a transportation alternative to and from work.

All constituencies would be served in a perfect world — UH students, airport workers, visitors, even Mililani and Hawai'i Kai residents. But in the real world, the real reason for building this line is to relieve pressure on the H-1 Freeway and shorten commute time for residents in the 'Ewa Plain.

That objective is the doughnut; the airport bypass is the hole. Please keep your eye on the doughnut.

WAR ON TERROR

IT IS IMMORAL TO TAKE OUR BATTLES ELSEWHERE

Larry Symons (Letters, Feb. 22) writes that he prefers to fight the war on terror in "some foreign country," not at home in the U.S.

Many Americans, including President Bush, think that this is an excellent strategy. No one chooses to have a war fought in their home country. That is why this strategy to take our war on terror to other people's home countries is immoral and a failure.

To most of the world's people, the U.S. is a "foreign country." They also would prefer to see our war fought in "some foreign country" — preferably ours, not theirs.

If the U.S. is to be secure, we need friends in the world. We gain no international friends by stating that we prefer to fight our war in other people's countries.

REVENUES

TOURISTS SHOULD PAY TO PARK AT ISLE BEACHES

I lived in Hawai'i in my younger years, and loved living there.

I now live on the Mainland, and when I return I am classified as a tourist. As a tourist, I get to look at Hawai'i through different eyes.

Hawai'i, like every other state, must always be looking for ways to increase revenues while maintaining its integrity to its people.

Tourists love to come to Hawai'i for your lovely beaches. I would not think twice if asked for a few dollars to park at the beach. Residents with a Hawai'i driver's license would be free.

And with the money that is raised, how about some nice restrooms and a concession stand with some bottled water, suntan oil and an emergency phone? The money raised at the concession stand could raise sizeable revenue, create jobs and generate sales taxes.

MIDEAST

IRAQ WAR: TOO MANY DEATHS, TOO MANY LIES

It doesn't matter which side of the Iraq war debate you're on; too many people (on all sides) are being killed and wounded.

This war has gone on much too long. All sides are losing.

I challenge the news media in Hawai'i to show pictures of all the killed and wounded in Iraq. Include a short bio of each soldier; don't just deliver statistics. We are becoming too numb to respond to another "explosion near market kills 37 and wounds 50."

This war was based upon faulty information and government double-speak from the very start.

One day the war is based upon Saddam Hussein's ties to al-Qaida, 9/11 and weapons of mass destruction, and the next it's tied to the global war on terrorism.

Too many deaths and too many lies; it needs to end now.

PROPOSED TARIFFS

HECO IS FAVORING PROFIT OVER ECOLOGY

Shame on Hawaiian Electric Co. It is showing their real colors: profits over ecology.

Its policies support more pollution through the burning of more fossil fuels. Its request for tariffs for those companies and individuals who have invested, in good faith, in alternative energy is ludicrous. It will cause great economic loss while discouraging further investment from dependency from limited and costly coal, oil and gas.

Its stockholders should demand that HECO create policies that stimulate consumers to seek and use Earth-saving resources.

They should vote to prohibit further plans for more traditional generating plants and instead plan for using solar, wind, wave-energy recycling and other God-given resources.

Hopefully, the Public Utilities Commission will refuse its outrageous request.

If not, then the Legislature may have to enact laws to prohibit these tariffs, and require utilities to support alternative energies.

Hawai'i must be more energy self-reliant.

WAIKELE BEATING

TOO OFTEN, MOST OF US MAKE PREJUDGMENTS

I was shocked reading about the beating incident in the Waikele shopping center in which a Hawaiian family allegedly beat a haole couple with their 3-year-old baby in the back seat watching.

Then I realized that the majority of us here in the Islands promote prejudice to some extent, including myself.

Being of Japanese, Chinese and Hawaiian decent, and gay, I have experienced prejudice all my life.

I don't think people realize that even in minor dosages, general statements about a group of people can hurt (deeply) individuals falling into these groups.

The Waikele incident may not be a "hate crime," but it is the foundation of one.

We pride our Hawai'i as being a special place where acceptance is part of "aloha."

Yet we still generalize a whole race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., because of prejudgments we have based on isolated experiences of individuals within these groups.

If we want a peaceful world, we need to watch what we pass on to our children.

Heaven forbid that die-hard bigots would ever get blind. They may begin to "see" that they have a lot more in common with their foes than they thought.