Eastside accidents hurt one seriously

Two vehicle accidents yesterday tied up traffic in different areas of the island and sent one person by air ambulance to Queen’s Medical Center.

Around 3 a.m., a vehicle accident on Kuhio Highway near South Leho in the Wailua area left a 20-year-old man in serious condition. He was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital and later airlifted to Honolulu, according to Kaua‘i County spokesperson Mary Daubert.

A passenger in the vehicle was treated and released at Wilcox.

It was a single car accident, the result of the driver losing control. His condition is unkown at Queen’s Medical Center. Authorities state alcohol and speeding may be factors in the crash.

The second accident occurred close to 1 p.m. in Kealia Kai on Kuhio Highway at the 11 mile marker. According to Daubert, two vehicles heading north on the highway clipped each other when one of them stopped for a left turn in an area with no turn lane.

“The front vehicle was attempting to make the left turn apparently to help out a friend or friends in a car parked on the other side of the road,” Daubert said.

When that vehicle stopped for the turn, the one behind could not stop in time and clipped it. “The car behind spun (after the collision) and hit the (stopped) vehicle again and then the one making the turn hit the parked car on the opposite side of the road,” Daubert said.

The only injuries sustained were minor. The couple making the left turn had chest pains as a result of the deployed airbags.

As a precautionary measure the two were taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital by ambulance.

The operators of the vehicle on the opposite side of the road were not in it at the time it was struck.

Daubert said all involved were island residents.

Traffic was slowed for nearly an hour as officers alternated the flow of those headed north and those headed south.

“Within an hour traffic was flowing in both directions,” Daubert said.