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State
Representative Josh Green's Commitment to
Improving Road Safety.
Continued from Home Page
Simply put, we have too many cars traveling on
too few roads, with too few safety measures in
place to prevent accidents.
As your State Representative, I am committed to
doing everything in my power to improve our
roads and safety measures both immediately and
in the years to come as our community continues
to grow.
The tragedies in West Hawaii opened all of our
eyes and prompted me to gather a panel of
traffic and safety experts together on March 5th
to speak with our community and help us
formulate a plan to make West Hawaii safer
immediately.
The speakers included Glenn Yasui, the highways
administrator from the Department of
Transportation, Dan Olson, co-chair of the Kona
Traffic Safety Committee, social scientist David
Holzman, Major John Dawrs of the Kona Police
Department and Dr. Sharon Vitousek of the North
Hawaii Outcomes Project.
Panel members agreed that Hawaii County has the
highest incidence of fatal car crashes in the
entire state (3.5 times higher). The panel also
agreed that the causes of our accidents are
many, including driver fatigue from long drives,
difficult environmental conditions, poor
attention, speeding, and a high incidence of
substance use on the island.
Most importantly, we were all were in agreement
on one critical point:
no matter what the cause of our accidents, a
DIVIDED HIGHWAY is the only solution that will
prevent head-on collisions.
I have alerted the Governor and the Mayor that
we have an actual public safety emergency in
West Hawaii and we need their help immediately.
Going forward with this commitment, the details
of my plan are:
PHASE 1: Immediate small scale safety measures
including 2-4 electronic speed signs, very
direct safety statements on the highway where
tragedies have occurred, and more effective
rumble strips in the center of the highway. We
will pursue immediate state and private funding
together as a community in order to complete
this project as quickly as possible.
PHASE 2: Construction of a divided highway from
the airport to Kawaehae instead of the currently
envisioned widening of Queen K from the airport
northward.
This 2-phase plan will require:
1) Immediate planning funds from the State
Legislature and/or private sources;
2) A strong public expression of need to elevate
the status of this project to the highest
priority (State Transportation Infrastructure
Priority, or STIP) with Mayor Kim and Governor
Lingle; and
3) Securing an 80:20 match from the federal
government to accomplish this goal based on the
STIP.
Meanwhile, as we put safety measures into place,
we will do everything in our power to support
our law enforcement officers to control traffic
speed and to provide public education to make
people drive more safely. But adequate safety
from head-on collisions will come only from a
divided highway, and it will only happen if we
all clearly express our community's need to
Governor Lingle and the State Legislature.
Please help solve the traffic safety problem by
signing the on-line petition I am making
available at joshgreen.org for the next 100
days.
For my part, I will deliver it personally to
Governor Lingle, Mayor Kim and the Department of
Transportation and I will continue to try to
influence their decisions about roads and safety
measures in West Hawaii.
Working together, we will make it safe to drive
in West Hawaii again.
Sincerely,
Josh Green M.D.
State Representative
6th District, Kailua-Kona
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ROAD SAFETY
PETITION
Help us
fight for safer roads in West Hawaii.
Sign our on-line petition and add your
voice to our call for West Hawaii's fair
share of highway funds.
"As a
resident of West Hawaii, I respectfully
request that the Department of
Transportation, Governor Lingle and
Mayor Kim make the construction of a
four-lane divided highway from the Kona
airport to Kawaihae the top
transportation priority for the state."
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