Bus drivers hurt in crashes are off the road, 1 for good

Question: Whatever happened to the city bus drivers who were injured: March 16, 2011, when a 60-foot-tall ironwood tree fell on the bus on Pali Highway, and April 2 when the driver suffered a medical condition that led to a bus crashing into a concrete wall bordering Kawaiaha‘o Church?

Answer: One driver retired and the other has not been medically cleared to return to work after the freak accidents that sent both men to the hospital.

Roger Morton, executive director for TheBus, said Don Pedro, the driver in the 2011 crash, has since retired after 36 years with the company.

Pedro, then 63, was in a Honolulu-bound lane on the Pali Highway when a 60-foot ironwood tree fell on the bus he was driving.

The tree damaged the front of the bus, knocking Pedro unconscious, and also hit a car traveling just ahead of the bus. The bus crossed the median and came to a stop on the Kailua-bound side of the highway.

Ten passengers, four of whom were treated for injuries at the Queen’s Medical Center, were on Pedro’s bus. 

Pedro was hospitalized with serious head injuries. 

A little more than a year after the Pali Highway accident, another city bus driver, after suffering from an unspecified medical condition, drove into the rock wall fronting Kawaiaha‘o Church.

The bus was not in service at the time and was en route to the Alapai Street bus depot, just two blocks from the crash site.

Bystanders stated that instead of taking a left off Punchbowl Street onto South King Street, the driver went through the intersection, striking with the wall and damaging a pillar nearby.

The 44-year-old, five-year driver for TheBus was rescued by fire officials after the dashboard trapped his legs.

Morton was not able to comment on the severity of the driver’s medical condition but did say that he has not received medical clearance to return to work.

Kawaiaha‘o Church Kahu Curt Kekuna was on site the day of the accident but did not see it happen.

“I only heard it,” he said.

The pillar and the 10-foot stretch of damaged wall have yet to be repaired.

Kekuna said that because the church is registered as a National Historic Landmark, there are regulations that need to be met before the construction can take place.

First, Kekuna said, an architect who is qualified and recognized as a historical expert has to be hired to survey the damage and make an estimate on the total cost. Construction can then start once material that matches the original material used to build the wall, which Kekuna thinks is a mixture of sand and coral, is gathered.

He said that if he had it his way, the wall would be fixed, but it is a process that is out of his control.

“The wall will be replaced and although I would like it to happen sooner than later,” Kekuna said. “The main thing is the driver is OK, and no one else was injured.”

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This update was written by ‘Alohi Bikle. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To…” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.