ess than a month after the installation of pedestrian-activated flashing flights at a busy Windward Oahu crosswalk, a 19-year-old college student was killed there Sunday night after being struck by a hit-and-run driver. The tragedy should result in a reassessment of that particular crosswalk, and makes a compelling case for a pedestrian overpass over the busy highway, especially as Hawaii Pacific University builds up and enrollment and dorms are expected to grow rather rapidly.

HPU student Mariah Danforth-Moore of Oneida, Wis., was the fifth pedestrian to have been stricken in that crosswalk since 2005, but she is the first fatality, according to state Department of Transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl. Having taken the bus, Danforth-Moore was on her way home from her Ala Moana Center job and walking across Kamehameha Highway to the student residence halls at HPU, where she was a sophomore majoring in psychology.

Because of concern about the crosswalk, the state had installed a $22,800 rectangular rapid flashing beacon system running across Kamehameha between the college campus and the municipal Pali Golf Course. The three flashing yellow lights on top of poles, activated by pedestrians, were turned on Oct. 21.

"It was meant for pedestrian safety," Meisenzahl said. "This is the absolute last thing we wanted to have happen."

No system for such a hot spot is infallible, but Sunday’s tragedy indicates improvement is sorely needed. The area is busy partly because of the heavy traffic at the nearby intersection of Kamehameha and Pali highways. This tragic fatality serves as a timely reminder to both pedestrians and motorists to be extra alert at intersections, but at this dangerous juncture, it may be time to consider a pedestrian overpass, or perhaps an underpass, to separate the continual college foot traffic from the bustling vehicular highway.

Danforth-Moore’s death also brings attention to another disturbing issue: motorists leaving the scene of accidents. In this case, the driver of the white sports car that struck the college co-ed headed toward Kaneohe around 8:45 p.m. and kept on driving. Police say they believe the car suffered severe front-end damage and are asking the public’s help in locating it.

In another traffic accident last Sunday, a four-door sedan was seen striking a 55-year-old man riding a mo-ped on Sheridan Street, fracturing his left wrist, and it kept on going west on Rycroft Street. In a third accident that same evening, a 52-year-old man was struck by two vehicles while trying to cross Kapiolani Boulevard at Kamakee Street. Both drivers left the scene, although one, driving a Volvo, returned after being chased down by another motorist and persuaded to come back.

Obviously because of returning to the scene, the Volvo driver was arrested on charges of accidental death, driving without a license and first-degree negligent injury — but not fleeing the scene of an accident, a felony offense that can result in a 10-year prison term.

The offense can be mixed with other charges in fatal accidents but should be charged and tried more often in non-fatal accidents. Stopping to help at the scene of an accident — especially since it may well be a matter of life or death — is a matter of human decency; failure to do so reveals heinous behavior that deserves tough deterrents. Drivers must understand that running away from a traffic accident can, and will be, severely prosecuted.