Several letter writers took us to task this week for our coverage of the Feb. 15 collision on Kapa'a Quarry Road that left two teenagers dead and five other people injured. We focused prominently on the design of the road and reported that three other deaths had occurred in the past 12 years. We also quoted elected officials and residents as saying they had been complaining about poor lighting and the dangerous stretch for years.

The readers felt we downplayed the actions of the drivers and placed too much emphasis on the road, with the headline: "Curve, dip make Kailua road a killer."

The collective opinion of the writers was why did we blame the road and not the motorists?

The angles we chose to pursue had something to do with how the story unfolded. The accident occurred at 10:29 p.m. Thursday and in Friday morning's paper, we had a four-paragraph story on Page B5 that confirmed six were hurt in a two-car collision.

We updated the story online throughout the night and by Friday morning, we had video of the accident scene that drew 12,300 views, a record for videos produced by The Advertiser. Our updates throughout the day drew an additional 53,000 hits. With so many of our readers and viewers aware of the story and intensely interested, we needed to plan something fresh for a paper that would appear 30 hours after the accident.

Our approach was a good one: Write one story looking at those who died or were injured, and produce another concentrating on a road that everyone knows can be dangerous. The story about Kapa'a Quarry Road was the one that drew criticism.

"What is so wrong about this whole incident is the fact that the road is not at fault," wrote a Kailua reader. "It is the fact that we do not teach our children the dangers and consequences of 'uncontrolled' actions, such as driving well over the speed limit on a road that is not designed to handle 'fast speeds.' I think you should be frank with the public and not flower this tragedy which has affected many families. It is a fact that in most cases when teens get together and drive out of control, most likely an accident which may cause injury or death will occur."

A Kapolei man took issue with the headline and story.

"Instead of 'Curve, dip make Kailua road a killer', it should read something showing reality: that cars and roads don't kill, drivers do," he wrote. "Why don't people take responsibility for their actions?"

One Kane'ohe writer said The Advertiser often tends to place the blame for a variety of ills everywhere else but where it should really fall.

He said we call for more crosswalks after pedestrian deaths. We ask for more warning signs when an off-trail hiker falls to his death. When someone drowns, we write about the need for more and better-trained lifeguards. When someone dies in a head-on collision, we blame the road.

"Could someone please explain to me why the blame for these tragedies (is) always placed where it does not belong?" he wrote. "Please forgive me but when I was young, I was taught that laws were enacted not only to protect us from others, but from ourselves as well. This said, I firmly believe that all of these daily headline 'tragedies' in your newspaper, as well as in life, could easily be a thing of the past if everyone were taught from birth, remembered, and practiced, just two simple words: personal responsibility."

I understand the point, exaggerated as it is, but let's review the facts in the Kapa'a Quarry Road collision. We know that speed was a factor but not who was speeding. We don't know if it was the 18-year-old driver of the sport utility vehicle killed in the crash or the 28-year-old man in the pickup truck who survived. Maybe they both were speeding. We know the 18-year-old driver did not have drugs or alcohol in her system. We also know that those unfamiliar with the road might not expect the dips and curves. We know the five girls in the SUV were from the Neighbor Islands and may not have been aware of the road's configuration.

That said, I wasn't crazy about the headline, and we probably could have come up with something that said the road was a danger and not a killer, but the headline certainly had to key in the problems with the road because that was the point of the story. And how could we possibly ignore the fact that residents have long complained about the road or fail to report that three other motorists had died there in the past dozen years?

We also did not sidestep the issue of speeding, though that was not the gist of the report. The story ended with an interview with Andy Ruiz, who said the problem wasn't the road but motorists who routinely drive 40 mph in a 25 mph zone.

"Especially that hill where the accident happened," he said. "The drivers just let it go and — I did it myself — you can easily hit 50 mph. Then you have that bend and you don't see what's coming up. That will do it."

If we are anxious to place blame, maybe we should wait until all the facts are in.