When Pedestrians Die | Day 2 | The Honolulu Advertiser


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	Slow approach to safety 'not protecting the people' It was already dark by the time Florelyn Ramos, 17, and her 14-year-old friend began walking to a nearby bus stop in Waialua. As the two crossed a narrow rural bridge that had no streetlights and no place for pedestrians to walk apart from traffic, Ramos was hit and fatally injured by a speeding truck. The driver told police he never saw the teenager. Investigators believed Ramos had been drinking and was walking in the middle of Kaukonahua Road with her back to oncoming traffic when the collision occurred on a January night in 2004. More »

	Hard to say where fault lies Blame the drivers. Blame the pedestrians. Two studies of pedestrian accidents in Hawai'i produced striking contrasts. One study of all pedestrian accidents — fatal and non-fatal — from 2002 to 2005 found that drivers were nearly 14 times more likely to be at fault than the people they hit. The analysis, by University of Hawai'i urban planning professor Karl Kim, suggests that more enforcement and education efforts should be aimed at drivers — especially male drivers, who are more apt to be at fault. More »