The annual HIDOE Traffic Safety Fair returns today for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year the event is dedicated to the memory of Sara Yara, the McKinley High School junior who was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver Feb. 15 as she walked to school.
The event, free and open to the public, is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the lower parking lot of Aloha Stadium. It is presented by the state Department of Education in collaboration with DTRIC Insurance and Par Hawaii.
Yara’s mother, Chevy Saniatan, is scheduled to give a brief address at 8:45 a.m. about her late daughter and to stress the importance of safe driving.
Attendees can take in a dozen exhibits and eight “learning stations” that will enable participants to learn how brain concussion, sleep deprivation and impairment from alcohol or cannabis can affect a person’s ability to function.
High school drivers who have an instructional permit or provisional driver’s license and are accompanied by a parent will be able to participate in “Operation Driver Excellence,” with four obstacle courses designed to put their safe-driving skills to the test.
The exhibits will be presented by DTRIC Insurance, Par Hawaii, the Honolulu Police Department, MADD Hawaii, Sports Car Clubs of America, Hawaii Bicycling League, Legacy of Life, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women &Children, the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, The Queen’s Medical Center, U-Haul, TyREDD and others.
The speaker schedule also includes:
>> 9:20 a.m.: HPD Sgt. Nathan O’Sullivan, who will speak about traffic safety practices for teen drivers and parents.
>> 10:10 a.m.: Kerrie Warne, founder of TyREDD (Tyler Raising Education for Drowsy Driving), a nonprofit organization raising awareness about the dangers of sleep deprivation and driving while tired. Warne lost her son Tyler as a result of a drowsy-driving accident.
>> 11 a.m.: Theresa Paulette, victim services specialist with Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawaii, who will share about losing her 15-year-old son, who was riding his moped four blocks from home in Kaneohe, to a driver with multiple drunken driving arrests.
>> Noon: Jim Warneck, senior claims examiner at DTRIC Insurance, and Candace Montgomery, a retired HPD detective and now a DOE driver education instructor, who will detail steps to take if involved in a collision.
For more information, visit dtric.com/operation- driver-excellence.
