‘A race track’: Calls grow to improve road safety in Waikiki after deadly motorcycle crash

WAIKIKI (HawaiiNewsNow) - Calls are growing to improve road safety in Waikiki following a deadly motorcycle crash over the weekend.

Some residents along Ala Moana Boulevard say more work needs to be done to curb reckless driving in the tourist district.

While speeding is not much of an issue during the day, they say at night, it becomes a “race track.”

Honolulu police said speed appears to have been a factor in Saturday’s deadly motorcycle crash.

It happened around 10 p.m. on Ala Moana Boulevard, near Prince Waikiki Hotel.

Officials said a 34-year-old male motorcyclist was traveling westbound on Ala Moana Boulevard when he collided with a concrete divider.

He was thrown off his bike and collided into a streetlamp pole, investigators said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

HPD said the motorcyclist was wearing a helmet and it’s unknown if alcohol or drugs are factors in the crash.

The crash became Oahu’s ninth traffic fatality this year.

Jacob Wiencek, a former Waikiki neighborhood board member, says this weekend’s fatal crash was “only a matter of time.”

“Every month that we met, there was always a complaint about Ala Moana and speeding,” Wiencek said.

In 2021, a man was killed after he struck a pole and tree at Kapiolani Park in Waikiki. Police also believed speed was a factor.

Last year, police say a speeding car caused a three-vehicle crash on Kalakaua Avenue, sending an 82-year-old man to the hospital in critical condition.

“It’s been getting worse for sure,” said one resident who lives nearby. He said he’s seen a change on the roads in the last 15 years.

“Just today I saw maybe 125 moped, dirt bike riders flying down this road doing wheelies,” he said.

As for a solution, Wiencek says there’s been discussions at the board meetings about reducing the speed limit or having HPD set up more speed traps, but nothing ever came to fruition.

“There was a lot of foot dragging, a lot of finger pointing, nobody cutting through the red tape to deliver solutions,” Wiencek said.

HNN reached out to HPD and asked if the department has enough manpower to conduct adequate traffic enforcement in the area. We are waiting to hear back.

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