Automobile Accidents
The first two automobiles seen on the streets of Honolulu—one belonging to Henry P. Baldwin, the other to Edward D. Tenney—arrived on the same day, October 8, 1899. Only five months later, the Territory recorded its first traffic accident.
On March 17, 1900, two bicyclists at the intersection of Kalakaua Avenue and South King Street were compelled to pedal into a roadside ditch and fence to avoid being run down by a speeding motorist. The cyclist couldn’t identify the driver, although at that time there were only four automobiles in Honolulu, three powered by electricity and one by steam.
The first motor vehicle death came six years later, on June 4, 1906. Louis Marks and three passengers, descending an ‘Aiea driveway in reverse, backed their Winton touring car over a twenty-foot embankment. The car made a complete somersault and fell on top of Marks, killing him instantly. Charles Bon was seriously injured, but both men’s wives were thrown clear. The Marks accident was only one of many reported in 1906, but none of the others appears to have had fatal consequences. At least six of the ninety motor cars on O‘ahu were involved in major accidents that year.
Motor vehicle deaths rose rapidly in the following decades, reaching 25 in 1917, 84 in 1928, 112 in 1942 and 161 in 1945. Although the death toll subsided after World War II, mortality remained high; in 1991, for example, 135 people died in auto accidents.