Helmet bill sought after moped death

Two key state lawmakers say they plan to try again to pass legislation requiring all moped riders to wear helmets in the wake of Tuesday’s fatal accident near the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.

The 22-year-old moped rider was identified as Lee J.Y. How of Honolulu.

Police said an 18-year-old moped rider and How were traveling together on Dole Street toward East-West Road on Tuesday afternoon. The first moped rider stopped for a pedestrian crossing in a marked crosswalk. Police said How did not see what was happening and rear-ended the first moped.

Lt. Carlene Lau said How, who was riding a 1989 Honda moped, was apparently speeding when he crashed into the first moped.

Both moped riders were ejected onto the road. Paramedics took How in critical condition to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he died. Emergency Medical Services and police said How was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

The first moped rider, who also had no helmet, suffered minor abrasions.

“He’s very lucky,” Lau said.

An autopsy was performed Wednesday, but the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office did not release the cause of death.

How, a 2012 graduate of Kaimuki High School, was not a UH student. A makeshift memorial was put up near the crash site with floral bouquets, lei and ti leaves.

State Sens. Lorraine Inouye and Josh Green say they plan to introduce legislation next year to require all moped riders to wear helmets despite past attempts that failed to gain traction. The current law requires moped riders under the age of 18 to wear a helmet.

Inouye, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Safety, introduced such a measure last year but the bill stalled in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health.

Inouye said she doesn’t understand how colleagues in both the House and Senate do not view safety as a priority and something to worry about.

Green, an emergency room doctor at Kohala Hospital on Hawaii island, is also a strong advocate of all moped riders wearing helmets. “The current safety laws for moped riders is 100 percent insufficient to protect people,” he said.

Requiring that all moped riders wear helmets is “just a common sense measure and it would absolutely save lives,” Green said.

He has seen moped riders die from head injuries or suffer from severe, long-term brain trauma because they didn’t wear a helmet. “If they (fellow lawmakers) saw what I saw in the ER, they would want to pass it immediately,” he said.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Leila Fujimori contributed to this report.