HONOLULU (AP) - Honolulu mistakenly covered up a crosswalk near the site where an 86-year-old pedestrian was hit by a car, according to officials in an Oahu neighborhood.
Maqbul ur-Rahman died after he was hit by a 24-year-old driver while crossing Hawaii Kai Drive on Monday, police said.
The 86-year-old was not in a marked crosswalk, police Sgt. Nathan Hee told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The nearest one was more than 200 feet (61 meters) away, he said.
Rahman suffered injuries to his head, legs and arms. He later died at a hospital, police said.
The crossing site in Hawaii Kai had overhanging tree branches that cast a shadow, so street lighting was possibly a factor in the crash, Hee said.
Had the former crosswalk still been in place, there would have been “at least a chance that he would have used it,” said Greg Knudsen, a member of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board.
A city spokesman declined to comment.
State Rep. Gene Ward wrote Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Tuesday asking for the crosswalk to be reinstated. Ward said his constituents were told an environmental impact statement must be completed before the crosswalk is put back, then they were told it wasn’t needed. Now, they’re being told it will take two years to put in a crosswalk that complies with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, he said.
“Let’s not allow bureaucratic red tape to get in the way of human life,” Ward wrote to the mayor. “Let’s not allow government inefficiency to cause another preventable death.”
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