Officials reveal plans to improve traffic, pedestrian safety

One week after 16-year-old Sara Yara was killed in a hit-and-run collision while walking to McKinley High School, city and state officials on Wednesday announced plans to improve driver and pedestrian safety near the campus.

Most of the focus centered around the intersection at Kapiolani Boulevard and Kamakee Street, where Yara and another McKinley student were hit by a pickup truck Feb. 15 while in a crosswalk near the school’s athletic fields. Both streets are heavily traveled by vehicles and pedestrians, including many McKinley students.

Officials indicated the improvements could include installation of speed humps or raised crosswalks along Kapiolani Boulevard and Pensacola Street, which border the campus.

A camera to document vehicles that run red lights was already scheduled to be activated at the Kapiolani-Kamakee intersection as part of the state Department of Transportation’s Red-Light Safety Program. State House Speaker Scott Saiki (D, Ala Moana-Kakaako-Downtown), in an overview of the safety plans at Wednesday’s news conference, said that all the improvements, including installation of the red-light camera, will be done within 30 days.

“This incident has shown us that we must do more to protect our students and pedestrians,” Saiki said. “This incident has also shown us that simply having a crosswalk is not always enough to protect people. In congested areas like this, we need to do more to slow down drivers and make our roads safer.”

Details of the planned traffic safety measures appear to be under consideration. While Saiki mentioned an elevated crosswalk at the Kapiolani-­Kamakee intersection, DOT Director Ed Sniffen said “whatever looks best in those areas” will be constructed.

“We’re proposing, with the (City and County of Honolulu), speed humps on both sides of the intersection spanning the whole street to ensure that nobody can swerve around anything and any time you come to the intersection, you have to slow down,” Sniffen told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “In general, it’s better to have a 300- or 400-foot separation so people will hit that, slow down, and cruise to the intersection.”

Saiki also mentioned that the city will conduct an engineering study to determine how to place left-turn signals at the intersection.

Many of the officials at Wednesday’s news conference called on the public to drive more safely. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said “it makes all the sense in the world” to install the changes on Kapiolani Boulevard and Pensacola Street, but motorists still need to take responsibility while on the road.

“It’s a shame that an accident like this has to happen to galvanize us, but the fact of the matter is there are 8,000 streets on this island and every one of them could be a hazard if the people who get behind the wheel don’t understand the responsibility that they own each and every time they get behind the wheel,” Blangiardi said.

The suspect in Yara’s hit-and-run death, Mitchel Yoshiji Miyashiro, 45, turned himself in at Honolulu Police Department headquarters Feb. 16 and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide and other charges. He was later released pending further investigation.

Court records show Miyashiro has amassed 164 traffic violations since 1996.

“To my knowledge he was not sent to jail for (those violations),” said Saiki when asked about Miyashiro’s lengthy record.

“I’m going to be following up with the (Honolulu) prosecutor’s office and the Judiciary to see what happened with this case, because if this person was, in this case, cited dozens and dozens of times, then something should have been done about it earlier,” Saiki said.

Blangiardi said he wants to crack down on those with similar histories.

“We have our hot spots on different criminal activities, of people with similar rap sheets out on the street, which for me is very bothersome,” he said. “I’m about enforcement, especially in cases like this.”

Yara’s mother, Chevy Saniatan, attended the news conference and afterward said she was happy that action is being taken to address traffic safety following her daughter’s death. Saniatan said she had worried about the busy streets near McKinley High School even prior to last week’s tragedy.

“It’s sad that it had to take my loss to save another life … but Sara didn’t die in vain and we’re going to save another life,” she told the Star-Advertiser.

Saniatan also said it’s time to address the fact that Miyashiro was allowed to continue to drive despite all his citations.

“The accident could’ve been prevented if this guy wasn’t on the street,” she said.

Miyashiro’s violations include speeding, driving with broken tail lights and headlights, and driving without insurance. He’s also been cited multiple times for driving without a license or with a suspended license.

“Are we just letting this guy go?” Saniatan asked. “That’s what kind of frustrates me. Did they do everything to put this guy away, you know what I mean? Did they do everything to prevent this happening? I guess not, because it happened to me, it happened to my daughter. My daughter is no longer here.”