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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, June 27, 2008

Two accidents snarl Kunia Road traffic

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser West O'ahu Writer

KUNIA — Two separate accidents along Kunia Road made for a lot of commotion at the entrance to Hawaii Country Club yesterday morning.

An accident involving a car and a Kama'aina Kids van traveling north along Kunia Road in front of the golf course entrance sent the van's 15 occupants and another person to Hawaii Medical Center-West.

All were sent in stable condition, according to Emergency Medical Services Department spokesman Bryan Cheplic.

"They're all good," said Ray Sanborn, Kama'aina Kids president, who said the 13 youths and two supervisors are part of its Surf Camp and were on their way to the North Shore.

A car trying to overtake the van crossed a solid centerline but swerved back too quickly into the northbound lane to avoid oncoming traffic, Sanborn said.

The van driver could not avoid hitting the car, said Sanborn, who was not at the scene but got the story from his two supervisors.

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said there were conflicting reports about what happened to cause the accident.

The driver of the van was a 23-year-old woman, while the driver of the Lexus sedan it collided with was a 54-year-old man, Yu said.

Meanwhile, about five minutes later and less than 30 yards south, a state Department of Transportation dump truck attempted to back up and snagged a power line, causing a live wire to come down onto the road.

Police shut down traffic going in both directions at about 8:55 a.m. and did not reopen the road until 9:49 a.m., Yu said.

Hawaiian Electric spokesman Darren Pai said a power outage caused by the downed line affected about 125 customers, including the golf course.

Phil Smotherman, a golf course starter, said the two incidents appeared to have happened about five minutes apart.

"There must have been a full moon last night," Smotherman said.

While course employees managed to bring up a generator to restore power shortly after losing energy, traffic was diverted away from the golf course, leaving the facility without any customers for an hour or two, he said.

"It hurt us a lot because people couldn't get through," Smotherman said.

Yu said the department received calls from golfers angry about the road shutdown.

Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tammy Mori said the dump truck was part of a shoulder-lane improvement project along Kunia Road.

That accident was unrelated to the one involving the van, she said.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.