Amid violent road rage attacks, CrimeStoppers Honolulu urges driving with ‘ALOHA’
‘It‘s important to be safe than it is to be right and injured as a result.’
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Three people were injured in two violent road rage incidents in Hawaii this past week: a mother and her teenage daughter who confronted a man who was speeding in Kakaako on May 7, and a man who was stabbed Wednesday in an apparent road rage incident in Waiehu, Maui.
Sgt. Edmund Ho with CrimeStoppers Honolulu says traffic confrontations in Hawaii rarely turn violent, which is why the nonprofit is urging drivers to have the right mindset on the road.
“What we don’t want is for it to become more commonplace,” Ho said.
“If everybody drives with the Aloha Spirit, then we definitely can prevent future episodes from occurring.”
Ho says driving with “ALOHA” means applying five concepts: Awareness, Leave, Observe, Help, and Anonymous.
The first involves being aware of potential dangers.
“Just being aware of your surroundings, having that situational awareness can help identify a lot of situations that you could avoid putting yourself, your family members in,” Ho said.
The second urges drivers to leave physically and emotionally.
“The idea of leaving or removing yourself from the danger is important,” Ho said. “We do realize that there are situations where you might not be able to and that’s where the idea of leaving your ego, leaving your pride behind, to try and de-escalate the situation.”
O stands for Observe.
“Use your eyes and ears to observe the suspect vehicle, observe if there’s any passengers. Observe the type of vehicle make, model, license plate number and then also observe for any traffic violations,” he said.
H refers to calling for help to 9-1-1 or CrimeStoppers Honolulu depending on the incident.
“Call it in as a hazardous driver situation, give all the details that you possibly can,” Ho said. “Help yourself to keep safe by not chasing by not engaging with the person as well.”
The final A refers to reporting incidents anonymously to CrimeStoppers at (808) 955-8300 or online at HonoluluCrimeStoppers.org.
“You can submit your information anonymously for what you saw, maybe footage that you have from your vehicle, your dash cam,” Ho said.
The bottom line: you can prevent road rage.
“We all feel proud of wanting to do what’s right and feeling strongly in believing that someone’s wrong and we’re right, but at the end of the day, you gotta kind of look at it as your safety first, right?” Ho said.
“It‘s important to be safe than it is to be right and injured as a result,” he said.
“When it comes to taking action, leave that to the authorities,” Ho added. “It’s definitely not worth it [to do it yourself].”
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