HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – With graduation season underway, Hawaii’s roads are expected to be even busier. That’s why highway officials are getting creative with their safety messaging.

The DOT is rolling out new safety signs with eye-catching warnings.

One reads: “Give grads lei, not alcohol.”

Another targets young drivers with the message: “Drinking and driving is not the vibe” Still another warns: “Speed kills, no cap.”

“No cap means no lie,” said Hawaii Transportation Director Ed Sniffen, spearheaded the campaign. “I had to talk to my kids and ask them about it. I wanted to make sure everyone understood, speed is the reason for fatalities on our system.”

Using creative and trendy messaging to promote safety on roadways has been done for years on the continent. In Massachusetts, one state sign that read “Use yah blinkah” went viral. Mississippi started rolling out “Star Wars”-themed signs in 2018.

“We’ve had people tell us that our messages have affected driver behavior,” said Paul Katool, with the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

“There’s only so many times you can tell people to put the phone down and ditch the distracted driving, take it slow. Eventually people just tune you out a little bit.”

But not everyone is fully on board, including the federal government, which issued new guidelines that will go intol effect in 2026 that could limit the use of funny or trendy signs.

“Federal highways give us guidance on what our signs should or should or not include,” acknowledged Sniffen. “There’s some adjustments coming in 2026, but from what we understand, it will not affect the educational messaging we put on our signs.”

Officials know not everyone will like it, but some say its the sign of the times.

“It makes me feel younger reading those edgy signs,” said one driver.

“If it can save 100 lives or one life, it’s worth it.”

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – An 18-year-old high school student was taken into custody following a school lockdown in South Kona on Tuesday.

Officers responded to Konawaena High at about 11 a.m. on reports of a fight.

They were told the male student was seen yelling and cursing at school staff.

Despite multiple requests from officers, police say the student refused to leave the campus.

The male student was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Konawaena’s middle and high school campuses were placed on lockdown during the incident.

The lockdown was lifted around 12:25 p.m. when the student was removed from the school’s grounds.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

No team loves Hawaii like the Pittsburgh Steelers. Though I’m sure there hasn’t been an actual effort to find players from the island of 1.44 million, they’ve collected the largest pool of them in the league.

On the team’s 90-man roster right now sits five Hawaii natives. There’s the Herbig brothers, Nate and Nick. There’s Isaac Seumalo, Breiden Fehoko, and the newest addition, wide receiver Roman Wilson from Kihei, who attended the same high school as the Herbig’s.

Of their current 87-man roster, that means nearly six percent of them are from the island.

How does that compare to the rest of the NFL? Pro Football Reference has a list of Hawaii-born players. They show 12 of them playing in games last season. Non-Steelers include former Steeler Tyson Alualu, QB Tua Tagovailoa, and DL DeForest Buckner. Adding in Fehoko – who technically didn’t appear in a game last year but spent time on the Steelers’ 53-man roster, that’s 13 of them on rosters last season.

How about the rookie class? I don’t have an exhaustive list, but using Dane Brugler’s draft guide that lists the hometowns of hundreds of players, there were five of them. Three of them were drafted: New York Giants LB Darius Muasau, Dallas Cowboys LB Marist Liufau, and the Steelers’ Roman Wilson. One other, Tua’s brother Taulia Tagovailoa, was invited to a rookie minicamp on a tryout basis, while another, LB Zion Tupuola-Fetui, appears unsigned and uninvited to the best of my knowledge despite initial reports he was going to Carolina. 

So, let’s assume 15 Hawaii-born players appear in games next year. The current ones minus Alualu, again a free agent whose career may truly be done this time, and the three drafted rookies. That means one-third of them could come from Pittsburgh should Fehoko land on the 53-man roster in some capacity.

As is my usual question, what does this matter? I offer my usual answer. Not much. But it’s a fun factoid to examine post-draft. The Steelers love their Hawaiians. And I bet Hawaii loves Pittsburgh.