Recently there have been letters citing roadside memorials as hazards, and that the time has come to discontinue this practice.
The fact is that driving on Maui is fraught with distractions - beautiful scenery, Adopt-a-Highway signs and scantily clad bodies that come with our ocean lifestyle, to name just a few. To try and make the memorials cause for road safety is lame and just plain mean.
The real truth is that we all need to pay more attention when driving, plan our drive times a little better and be a little more courteous when on the roads. Stop at stop signs and traffic lights, drive the speed limit, watch your spacing and use your turn signals.
As a professional driver, I've never seen an accident that might have been caused by a roadside memorial, just stupidity.
In a year when traffic fatalities are occurring at a record pace, we all need to face the truth - driving is dangerous. Be careful.
As far as the roadside memorials go, leave them and their families alone. If you think it's safer driving on the Mainland because they don't have them, you're welcomed to drive there. Hawaii is not the Mainland. We do things differently here.
Gregory B. Calleja
Kahului
