<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by letiole:
Once we did the trip, we pretty much thought it was a piece of cake and wondered what all the fuss was about. That's not to say there's never been an accident on Saddle, but as conjested as Hawaii has become, you're probably as likely to get in an accident most anywhere else on the island as on Saddle Road.</font>
Hawai'i is like a packed Continental F cabin. There's always people trying to get in with no room left. Okay, bad analogy...
You're right... Saddle Road had far fewer accidents compared to other highways on Hawai'i -- point well taken. However, it's not that you're getting into accidents with others... it's that you're getting into one car accidents given how the road is constructed:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Not surprisingly, Saddle Road has a higher accident rate when compared with the overall average accident rate on other rural, two-lane highways on the Big Island. A recent seven year traffic study put the accident rate for Saddle Road at 4.7 accidents per million vehicle miles versus the average of 3.0 accidents. The types of accidents reported included 4 fatal accidents, 258 injury accidents and 260 property-damage-only accidents. </font>
The quote, taken from
http://www.saddleroad.com/nl1.html this page indicates the proportional numbers of accidents happening on Saddle Road.
Many accidents occur during inclement weather, speeding, army vehicles, etc.
I can personally contest to an extremely bad accident on Saddle Road where I almost lost my life. Let's just say that the weather was poor, we weren't speeding (I was in the passenger seat) and we hydroplaned into a tree (a tree which ironically had three car crashes into it that same week, one being on that very same morning -- cop said work of Pele, if you're into that stuff). A one car crash -- totalled the Ford Explorer we were in.
So... although Saddle Road can be dangerous, most times its not. Just drive safely.... and yes, my apologies if I made it sound like Saddle Road led to the observatories on top of Mauna Kea. It doesn't.
Aloha!