Stop running red lights!

What is the deal with people running red lights at intersections? I now pause and wait a second or two when I am first in line and get a green light before I proceed through the intersection. I hope everyone makes that a habit. There are too many distracted knuckleheads out on the road.

The area I commonly see the red light runners is the intersection of Honoapiilani Highway and Kai Malina Parkway/Halawai Drive by the Honua Kai Resort in Kaanapali. MPD could make a fortune ticketing offenders in this area.

Twice in the last two days while I was exiting this area, I almost got hit by someone traveling north or south running a red light. It was not that the light turned yellow quickly and they couldn’t stop in time; there were one, two, three cars all at once that ran the red light, and they were well into the intersection after I had the green light.

I don’t get it. I don’t get what the big hurry is. Everyone, just slow the heck down, be cautious entering intersections, and be even MORE cautious before entering the intersection if you have been stopped and the light turns green.

JULIE NELSON, Lahaina

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Pay attention while driving

I was very saddened that once again, an innocent child was taken from his loving ‘ohana and extended family because of an accident in Kaanapali.

I am so tired of seeing at the end of stories of those being hit by cars: “Speed, drugs or alcohol impairment do not seem to be factors, but it is still under investigation.” How about adding texting, or talking on your cellphone and/or other electronic devices?

As far as speed, I walk up that road, and the cars/trucks/vans are always speeding, never stopping at stop signs in most instances. Most are on their cell

phones or not paying attention as they drive.

Did you know those “speed bumps” are to slow down, the red signs that say “STOP” mean a full stop, and the main rule is to keep your eyes on the road, be mindful of the 20 mph speed limit and be aware of everything that is going on around you.

If one is texting, on the phone or just plain stupid, they will cause another very sad tragedy.

If you back out, look before you get into your car to see who may be close by. Once you start to back out, check again to be sure that no one has wandered into the area where you are backing out.

Residential areas are never more than 20 MPH, but they should be slower because children and dogs might run out.

Going the speed limit or slower is always good. If one goes the speed limit, and does not use a cell phone or other devices, then most of the time, these type of tragedies will not occur, as you will have enough time to stop.

If you live in a gated community, the speed limit is usually 10-15 mph, and the same law abides as to no cell phone use on public roads.

You are still in a vehicle, which is a weapon if not driven responsibly.

Whether you are on vacation or a local, the law applies to everyone. If you work, then be sure you leave early enough to not speed and take care of any business before you start your car, so as not to be on your cell phone.

Always drive with aloha; this means the speed limit, not using a cell phone or other electronic device, and keeping your eyes on the road and knowing what is going on around you.

These tragedies must stop. Hug your children and loved ones every day; tell them you love them and mean it.

NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST

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Time to get unstuck in Iran

Do I not effectually destroy my enemies, in making them my friends? (Sigismund of Luxemburg, as quoted in “The Sociable Storyteller,” 1846.)

We are SOS in the Middle East. Stuck on Stupid. Can we get unstuck?

Focusing on Iran while keeping the overall region in mind, most scholars in my field of Peace and Conflict Studies would make some version of the following suggestions: quit sending arms to anyone in the region; quit telling Iranian people what to do; offer to help, but not militarily; start lifting sanctions slowly, unilaterally; wait for reciprocity and repeat (Rapoport’s tested game theory); and start exchange programs to reintroduce Iranians to the U.S. and Americans to Iran.

Just as the U.S. will have its “Death to Iran” or “Death to Muslims” loudmouths, Iran will have its “Death to America” blowhards.

Do Americans recall the 1953 plot and all the military aid that subsequently went to the Shah, with his notorious SAVAK not-so-secret police, trained and armed and advised by the CIA? Just imagine that our country was upended, an Iranian-backed leader installed, and patriots were rounded up as soon as they dissented. Imagine that we endured this nightmare for 26 years. Would we ever forgive Iran? Might a few of us chant “Death to Iran” once in a while?

I’m sure Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Donald Trump and the entire Republican leadership (most of whom are running for president) would be so chanting on the floor of the House, the Senate or on national television.

Oh, that’s right… they already do. Imagine an Iranian online reading about Ted Cruz’s claim that the nuclear deal makes Obama the biggest financier of terrorism in the world and then watches Cruz’s machine gun bacon video.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is sounding to the world like the most reasonable party, saying on Iranian TV that hardliners on both sides have it all wrong. “This idea that we have two options before the world, either submit to it or defeat it, is illogical: there is also a third way, of constructive cooperation with the world in a framework of national interests.”

Both the U.S. and Iran are bad boys on the world stage. Both are viewed as states that practice or sponsor terror. We cannot fix that by wild talk by our politicians, and neither can Iran.

For the good of the people of the U.S., of Iran and of the world, we need to support the Iranian nuclear deal. It’s not perfect, but neither are any humans, and humans control technology of weapons that must be perfectly kept from being used, ever. Therefore, the fewer nuclear weapons in the world, the less we have to worry about that human imperfection. It should make us more tolerant of each other and less tolerant of any nuclear weapons anywhere. As Deepak Chopra once said, “Nuclear weapons are always in the wrong hands.”

DR. TOM HASTINGS, PeaceVoice