Nuuanu resident Raymond Endow, 83, was one of the most cautious people in the neighborhood, donning a safety vest as he walked his neighborhood as a member of its security watch, family and neighbors said.

After a car nearly struck him and a friend a few years ago, “he asked me what to do, and I said maybe get a vest that shined,” said longtime friend and neighbor Paula Kurashige, who lives four houses from his on Wood Street. “He never stopped wearing his vest.”

But on Wednesday, Endow was crossing Pali Highway when he was struck by a white 2010 Ford pickup truck, and died that evening at the hospital.

“After lunch he was going to catch the bus to go to town to Longs,” said his wife of 52 years, Annette. “It was so sudden.”

Endow was the 25th pedestrian to die on Oahu’s roadways this year, compared with four the same time last year, for a total of 55 traffic fatalities this year compared with 35 last year.

A retired roofing estimator, he also is survived by three sons and five grandchildren.

“He practically raised me, and always told me to work hard,” said granddaughter Kristiann Endow, 26. “He was very active and active in his community. He was all about safety and was a hard worker and provided for his family.”

Kurashige, the neighborhood watch captain, said Endow was at one time captain and part of the walkie-talkie patrols until recently.

“He always knew everyone, got around everywhere, stopped and talked to people and got help if anyone needed help,” she said.

“He would come over and talk story through my kitchen window,” she said. “He tells me my honohono needs attention, takes care of it and bring it back. He’s a really loving man, and loves his wife and family.

“I couldn’t believe it yesterday, and I still don’t believe it,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “We had talked about this over here on Wood Street and Pali, of the danger.”

Endow was crossing three lanes of traffic in a marked crosswalk on the townbound lanes of the Pali near Wood Street, said police Lt. James Slayter of the Honolulu Police Department’s Vehicular Homicide Section.

Approaching vehicle drivers in the left and middle lanes stopped as he was easily visible, but the pickup truck driver, a 24-year-old Honolulu man in the farthest right lane, could not see him over the other two vehicles, he said.

Witnesses said the driver didn’t appear to be speeding, but the pedestrian appeared to be hurrying to pass the drivers, Slayter said.

The truck driver saw the pedestrian at the last minute, swerved to avoid him, and the pedestrian, thinking the driver was going straight, jumped back, Slayter said. “The vehicle swerved in the same direction, and the vehicle ended up impacting him.”

Police will continue to investigate the collision.

“We want a (stop)light here,” said Kurashige, a member of the neighborhood board. She suspects speed was involved. “He was going over 35 (mph) for sure. If they don’t like 35, then put it down to 25. It takes somebody like Ray to be a martyr.”

She also said many elderly can’t get across the six-lane highway in the 14 seconds for a crossing light, and are often stuck in the middle.

Kurashige said the community got a light system at Jack Lane activated when pedestrians step on it, but it was moved to Waianae.

“You can’t have an unprotected crosswalk across six lanes of traffic,” Michael Lum, vice chairman of the Nuuanu/Punchbowl Neighborhood Board No. 12, said. He wants the state to require stoplights.