Woman thrown from seat on bus, DTS calls for more mindful driving
By Jeremy Lee
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HONOLULU (KITV) — A motor vehicle accident last Sunday resulted in a 65-year-old woman aboard an Oahu Transit bus being ejected from her seat into the aisle.
She was rushed to hospital in critical condition. HPD is still investigating the incident.
Bus riders told KITV of scenes like another more minor collision on Kalakaua Avenue and King Street last Saturday. A driver attempted to make a right hand turn and the bus T-boned into a Toyota SUV.
Luckily, nobody was hurt but several frustrated bus riders who spoke to KITV were shaken up.
The next night, Sunday, is when the critical accident took place near Pearl Harbor with the bus traveling on Kamehameha highway.
The 65-year-old woman suffered a head injury. The Department of Transportation services is reminding motorists to remember to drive with aloha and make way for the Bus.
“It is a tough job here for a bus driver to drive on Honolulu streets. They are often crowded, they are often narrow,” Roger Morton told KITV4.
“If someone stands before the bus has stopped, and then for whatever reason, the bus driver has to apply the breaks in a hard way, that is our leading cause of accident,” Morton said.
In 2020, the ‘Malama Kupuna’ advertisement campaign by the Department of Transportation Services advises those on the road to drive with Aloha.
“You take a right hand turn let’s say on king street, don’t cut in front of the bus driver quickly,” the spot announces.
DTS says while the public can be more attentive to the hazard of making a quick turn in front of the bus. The agency is also focused on better training for drivers. Morton told KITV his recommendation.
“Wait. particularly when they see a kupuna get on the bus, wait until the person is seated before they start to continue their trip. And we would like folks to stay in their seat until the bus comes to a complete stop too,” Morton said.
Morton says riders are most vulnerable when they get up from their seat prematurely while the bus is still approaching the stop.
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