The recent islandwide power outage required MPD to position police officers at all major traffic intersections across the island, placing them in a higher risk environment than needed. Had these intersections been supplied with uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), officers would not be needed to direct traffic and they could respond to more critical issues during this outage.

UPS systems for traffic controls have been in place on Hawaii island for many years. Their experience with these types of systems should be researched to see what might work best for Maui.

I call on our state legislators to initiate a discussion with state DOT highways officials to see if a plan to provide UPS systems at all major state highway traffic intersections can be implemented over time. Legislators can also help by supporting multi-year funding requests to provide for this equipment.

We were fortunate the past power outage occurred over the nighttime period when there was little to no traffic on the road. Imagine the traffic nightmare we all would have faced if this outage occurred during the day at a peak traffic period.

Walter Enomoto

Kahului