Friday, March 20, 2009

Reprint: Speed Safely by Tracy Arakaki

I just wanted to reprint this article from around hawaii. It was written by my friend Tracy Arakaki who has experienced first hand the effects of speeding. If you want to see more of the work he does, you can see his site at punishum.com.

2001 was a year to forget in regards to tragedy caused due to illegal street racing. Young Logan Fujimoto lost his life after he flew off the freeway and landed in a service station parking lot near Kahala Mall. A month later school teacher Elizabeth Kekoa was killed just a few miles from where young Logan lost his life. The driver Nicolas Tudisco is sitting in a prison cell serving 10 years for his poor decision.

Since January 1st of this year there has been 15 fatal crashes resulting in 17 deaths. 60% or 9 of these fatal accidents were due to excessive speeding. In 2008 Honolulu Police gave out over 58,800 citations for speeding. On a recent Friday evening I was listening to a police frequency for a single district and within 30 minutes there were 6 calls to officers on the beat of racing or speeding vehicles.


In 2001 with the help of import drag racer Shaun Carlson PunishUM Motorsports produced a 30 second Public Service Announcement with the help of a well known marketing firm. This PSA had gotten air time on all the network stations during the 2001 holiday season.

This year with the help of Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona PunishUM Motorsports is producing 3 Public Service Announcements and a half hour television special addressing illegal "Street Racing" or just plain "SPEEDING" and its consequences. Featured on the show is Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, Representative Glenn Wakai and others inform viewers that Speeding can lead to jail time or worse, Death.

Just a few days ago 3 young adults were killed again due to excessive speeding. A tragic loss due to really, there is no other word for it but being plain "STUPID".

The only place is a racetrack and "NOT" the streets.

If you would like more information in regards to this "Speed Safely" campaign you can log onto punishum.com.

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