Hawaii
State to remove passing zone on Daniel K. Inouye Hwy. after deadly crash
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) said crews will restripe an area of Daniel K. Inouye Highway after a deadly crash on Tuesday.
HDOT Director Ed Sniffen said crews will remove the passing zone at mile marker 26.
The announcement comes after two cars crashed at around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Hawaii Island police said Todd Matsushita, 70, tried to overtake a vehicle and slammed head-on into an SUV.
Both Matsushita and the SUV’s driver, a 34-year-old man from Virginia, died.
The two-lane highway, also known as Saddle Road, has a 60-mile-per-hour speed limit.
“It’s very clear that along this route, people are driving way too fast for the passing zones,” Sniffen said. “So we’re reconsidering whether or not we should have passing zones in about 10 of those 15 to 20 that we have out there. We may be eliminating a lot more of them.”
HDOT said they also plan to add rumble strips and vertical delineator posts every five miles and in high-risk areas.
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