DKI Highway speed limit bill dies in state Legislature

A bill that would have lowered the speed limit from 60 mph to 55 mph on portions of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway has died in the state Legislature.

State Senate Transportation Chairwoman Lorraine Inouye of Hilo, who introduced Senate Bill 2008, killed it herself by deferring it during a committee meeting in February.

Inouye told the Tribune-Herald earlier this month she introduced the measure as “a warning because of all the incidents” resulting in death or serious injuries on the east-west Big Island thoroughfare also known as Saddle Road.

“There was a lot of opposition to what my plans were, but there were also many folks that were in support,” Inouye said. “But it was just a warning that we have to be more careful, driving around from east to west.

“Anyway, I decided not to hear the measure.”

Inouye introduced the original bill that raised the speed limit to 60 mph on parts of the DKI Highway in 2017.

Inouye said during the February committee meeting she received “tons of opposition … in social media for my bill.”

Only four pieces of written testimony were submitted on SB 2008, however, with the state Department of Transportation and two individuals in support of the measure.

The Hawaii Police Department submitted testimony opposed to the bill, but not to lowering the speed limit, which HPD supported.

The testimony submitted by Chief Reed Mahuna objected to the bill because it also would raise the current speed limit of 40 mph to 55 mph between the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area entrance and the entrance to the Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area, as well as remove deceleration limits near the intersection of DKI Highway and Mamalahoa Highway (Route 190) in West Hawaii.

“HPD is concerned that the entrances/exits at the intersections may not have sufficient acceleration, deceleration and merge lanes, to safely allow for traffic traveling at 55 miles per hour,” Mahuna wrote.

Inouye said that despite killing the bill, her concerns remain.

“When I created the bill to have the 60 mph speed limit, it made a lot of people happy. But, you know, we can always take it back. We have to do better,” she said.

Two fatal collisions late last year on the highway garnered a great deal of public attention.

One of those wrecks, which occurred on Oct. 23, killed 47-year-old Anna Masaichy of Kailua-Kona, who died at the scene. Masaichy’s 3-week-old granddaughter, Aniana Kasthy, succumbed four days later.

Four other members of Masaichy’s family were seriously injured.

According to police, the 2014 Subaru sport-utility vehicle driven by Masaichy’s 51-year-old husband, McCarthy Salalap, was Hilo bound on the DKI Highway near the 25-mile marker in South Hilo, when it was struck head-on by a Kona-bound 2023 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck driven by 43-year-old Kimo K. Medeiros of Kurtistown.

Medeiros, who also was injured, has pleaded not guilty to two counts each of manslaughter, first-degree negligent homicide, and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug; three counts of first-degree negligent injury; plus reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs, marijuana possession and driving without a license.

Medeiros, who remains in custody in lieu of $2.055 million bail, was unable to make a hearing Monday. Deputy Public Defender Megan Fellows told Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota that Medeiros was in Oahu Community Correctional Center for medical reasons.

Kubota rescheduled the hearing for April 29.

On Christmas Eve, 74-year-old Judith “Judy” Fitzgerald, an emergency room physician at Hilo Benioff Medical Center who lived in Kailua-Kona, was killed in a head-on collision on the DKI.

A Hilo-bound 2020 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck driven by 34-year-old Caitlin Smith of Hilo crossed the center line near the 13-mile marker in Hilo and struck Fitzgerald’s Kona-bound 2025 Mazda Miata convertible head-on, according to police.

Smith, who was treated for minor injuries at HBMC, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide, DUI and reckless driving. She was released from custody without charges on Christmas Day, pending further investigation.

Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.