KAPAHI A 34-year-old Kapaa man died Saturday morning following a traffic crash on Kawaihau Road, near the Kainahola Road intersection, in Kapahi.
KAPAHI — A 34-year-old Kapaa man died Saturday morning following a traffic crash on Kawaihau Road, near the Kainahola Road intersection, in Kapahi.
His identity has not been released.
According to a preliminary investigation, the man was heading east on Kawaihau Road at roughly 10:20 a.m. on a motorcycle when he apparently lost control, crossed the center line, and struck an oncoming Nissan pickup truck.
The motorcyclist was presumed dead at the scene, and was later transported to Wilcox Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The driver of the pickup truck, age 34, of Kapaa, did not report any injuries.
A portion of Kawaihau Road was closed for several hours, until approximately 3:15 p.m., while the Kauai Police Department’s Traffic Safety Section conducted an on-scene investigation.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Another sad accident, another Kawaihau Road shrine. This one mile or so stretch of Kawaihau Road has had at least three fatal accidents, four or five fatalities, and at least one accident with a critical injury in the last five years. Two accidents and three fatalities in about 1/2 mile in the last eight months, both involving motorcyclists who ended up in the wrong lane. Even without controlling for speed limit and amount of traffic, it has to be one of the statistically most dangerous miles of road on the island. Does anybody at the county monitor this kind of thing and care? It’s not clear what they could do, but something must be done or the carnage will continue.