After he agreed to stop driving four years ago, 85-year-old Charles Ma started taking the bus from Wai'alae Iki to Chinatown about five days a week.

"He used to conduct the Chinatown tours for the Chinese Society," said his son Kent Ma. "He goes down there and knows everyone and says 'Hi' and haggles over the meat. He went just to interact with people."

On Thursday morning, as he crossed Kalaniana'ole Highway to get to his Wa'a Street home, he was struck by a car driven by an 82-year-old woman. He died of his injuries a few hours later.

The 17th pedestrian fatality on O'ahu this year, Ma's death is again calling attention to pedestrian safety.

Although his father was crossing at one of the few crosswalks without traffic signals along Kalaniana'ole Highway, Kent Ma said he didn't necessarily advocate putting a traffic signal there.

"You can't go 500 feet and get a light every time. If you line up that street with lights, it's going to look like Christmas, green and red," he said. "The light doesn't mean people are going to stop."

Both the city and state have put an emphasis on crosswalk safety after an unusually high number of pedestrian accidents and fatalities at the beginning of the year. The number of accidents tapered off and has yet to reach last year's 20 pedestrian deaths.

City spokesman Bill Brennan said the city is planning to put most future crosswalks at intersections, or at traffic lights if they need to be mid-block. However, he said, Kalaniana'ole is a state highway, so the city doesn't deal with crosswalks there.

The state Legislature and the administration have been at odds about how to improve pedestrian safety, and over the summer had a political battle that ended with a veto, a veto override and the governor's decision to withhold $3 million for crosswalk improvements.

But it has been an educational year — and a sobering one —said AARP spokesman Bruce Bottorff, who said the rate of pedestrian fatalities has slowed down, to a certain degree. Statewide, the 16 pedestrian fatalities from January through July was only half that of the same period in 2006.

"In spite of the fact that we've seen a modest decline in pedestrian fatalities this year, it's still a very important issue," he said. "It's still one we need to work on and find ways to ensure public safety, education, engineering and enforcement."

While the fatalities spurred greater attention and enforcement of the crosswalk law, AARP was disappointed when Gov. Linda Lingle refused to target money at improving the crosswalks they deemed most dangerous.

But Bottorff said that while the ideal would be having all crosswalks at clearly marked intersections with traffic signals, he said right now both pedestrians and drivers need to be cognizant of each other, especially since many seniors haven't realized how urbanized their communities have become over the decades.

"Pedestrians, in part, need to take responsibility and follow the law and need to be aware of their circumstances as much as possible," he said.

As far as driving goes, AARP doesn't believe drivers should be discriminated against on the basis of age alone, but the group don't oppose more frequent testing for everyone.

Hawai'i is one of 16 states that require older drivers to come in more regularly for license renewals.

The standard renewal interval is six years, while those 72 and older must come in every two years. All renewals, regardless of age, require an eye test.

Elderly drivers are not subject to any other stringent requirements, unless a doctor, police officer or clerk at the motor vehicle office recommends a medical review.

Attempts as recently as 2003 to toughen licensing laws for elderly drivers were met with stiff resistance. Past proposals have included everything from requiring road or written tests for elderly drivers trying to renew their license to banning drivers from renewals after a certain age.

Harvey Peltz, the regional director for driver safety, said he conducts defensive driving classes for about 600 people over age 50 each year, either helping them to stay safe on the road or find alternative modes of transportation.

"We try to make them aware as they get older they don't see as well, don't hear as well and their reaction time slows down, so they need to drive differently," he said.

He said that many people who take the class decide not to drive at night anymore or avoid the highway during busy periods. Others drive to the bus stop so that they can take public transportation into the city.

People are reluctant to give up their cars, though, he said, because it represents the last bit of freedom.

Peltz said there is a pamphlet that helps families and doctors talk to seniors about giving up their driver's licenses.

That was a conversation that Ma's family had with him that ultimately led to his decision to turn in his license.

Sen. J. Kalani English, chairman of the Transportation and International Affairs committee, said it would be difficult to set a different set of guidelines for seniors.

"As long as the doctor says they're competent to drive, it would be difficult to arbitrarily say, 'At this age you can no longer drive,' " he said.

Rep. Joe Souki, chairman of the House Transportation committee, said that he plans to introduce more legislation next session to improve crosswalk safety, but he thinks that traffic plays a big role.

"We have so much congestion on the highways," he said. "People get impatient. People get distracted."

Souki, 74, thinks age should be a factor in driver's license regulations.

"When you're older, your reactions slow down," he said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.