Moped driver urges all operators to be more aware after crash

KEALAKEKUA— John “Jay” Haley went from an active moped and motorcycle rider finally living in Hawaii, to a bed-ridden man only able to gaze at the sky through a hospital window.

His condition, his whole life, changed after an underage driver, suspected of drunken driving, pulled out in front of him while he was driving his moped and caused him to wreck recently in Kailua-Kona.

Right now, he has to rely on others for the most basic of tasks. That’s something that drives the independent-minded former racer to tears. But he hopes that the realization of the damage to his body — not to mention the underage driver’s life — will encourage others to be more aware on the road.

“Cars don’t look out for mopeds, mopeds don’t look out for cars,” Haley said.

He’s prepared to remain in his Kona Community Hospital bed for several weeks, until he is able to transfer to physical therapy, where he will spend several more months.

It’ll probably be three months before he’s back to work, he knows, meaning his employer will have to find someone else for that time and probably cost him his job.

The accident

Haley was driving home on Kuakini Highway at about 4 p.m. May 17 when a 16-year-old girl driving a Mazda 5 sedan on Lako Street didn’t stop, he said, swerving into the turn lane, then into the intersection, directly into his path.

“She was trying to shoot the gap or something,” he said.

With no time to stop, Haley struck the passenger side of the vehicle, hitting the top of his head on the windshield and landing on the roadway.

As he lay on the streetwith other drivers and passers-by swirling around him, some took photos of the scene, others directed traffic and several tried to keep him conscious. Haley’s hands were shaking so bad he had to have someone else call his boss to alert him to the accident.

That accident was among an average of 58 nonfatal accidents involving mopeds on the Big Island during the past three years. Statewide, there were 607 nonfatal crashes, according to statistics provided by Dr. Daniel Galanis, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Health. Luck prevented Haley’s accident from becoming one of the two fatal accidents seen annually on Hawaii Island, one-fifth of the 10 seen in the state.

The girl driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant, first-degree reckless injury, driving without a license and driving without no-fault insurance. The case remains under investigation, said Chris Loos, spokeswoman for the Hawaii County Police Department. As the girl is a minor, the department would not release her identity.

Realizing the severity

Haley remembers moving his fingers and toes, trying to make sure he wasn’t paralyzed. They all responded, so he began to look at his injuries. He watched the fingers on his right hand move, then went to look at his left.

It should have been simple, as he could feel the asphalt under the tops of his fingers. The angle felt odd, but they were working. Then he realized the crash had broken his arm and twisted it above his head.

An X-ray of the injury showed a jagged break, which was later repaired with a rod running the length of his upper arm. The road rash, gashes and other trauma compounded on that, including numerous cuts that went through his jeans. His right leg was fractured below the knee, which took three bolts to repair.

The physical pain is bad enough for Haley, but losing his independence can drive him to tears. He’s been reduced to using his left leg to propel the wheelchair and his right arm to steer to get him from the bed to the bathroom.

Coming into the hospital after the accident, the doctor told him the surgery would have to hold off for a day, as the specialized part needed was not available. So they set the bone properly and let him rest until the operation.

The next day he met his surgical team at 6:30 a.m., went in and didn’t wake up until about 3 p.m., he said, with a fresh set of staples and new metal hardware.

Little luck, lessons learned

More than a week afterward, Haley remains hospitalized, concerned about his financial future. His insurance rate rose and he won’t be making money to pay his current mortgage. Despite that, he continues to make sales from his hospital bed and work at a Kona moped company.

“I haven’t seen my house in a week. I probably won’t see it for three weeks,” he said.

There are things to be thankful for.

It was fortunate Haley’s dog wasn’t riding along with him, as she often does, and people have been visiting regularly, including those who helped him at the scene, he said.

As someone who has been on motorcycles and mopeds since he was 6 years old, Haley thinks the tendency to place the majority of the blame on the riders is incorrect. It’s equally the fault of both types of drivers, he said.

He’s seen plenty of other two-wheeled drivers try and skip ahead on the shoulder or drive in the gap between vehicles. That includes his time in Colorado, which he left 16 months ago to be in Hawaii.

Equally, he’s seen people crowd behind a moped going uphill on a road with no shoulders. He’s also had people roll down the window as they drive past, throwing change, garbage and insults at him.

The key part for both sides is to remain aware, he said.

Police agreed.

Moped drivers need to realize they are operating a motor vehicles and are not operating bicycles, Hawaii Police Lt. Daniel Mlakar pointed out. And that awareness needs to include driving in the lanes.

The major modification is being able to use bike lanes for mopeds, he said. Otherwise, the operator is driving a motor vehicle that needs to be within the lanes, although pulled to the right. Many accidents happen as moped riders move to the shoulder, as though it’s a lane.

One of the more frequent accidents they see is when a car driver sees a gap in traffic and moves to turn, unaware that a moped is coming.

One danger Haley sees is tourists from snow-bound areas who aren’t used to thinking about or looking for two-wheeled vehicles when they reach Hawaii and start driving.

Haley thinks that signage to remind people to keep an eye out might help people remain aware, perhaps like the blitz used to look for bicyclists during the Ironman triathlon season.

In the wake of the accident, Haley is considering his future.

In the very moment, he’s focused on regaining his mobility, in part so he can get off the smoke-free hospital campus and indulge in a cigarette. But he’s also thinking about what big picture message he’s taking from the accident.

It might be God telling him to slow down, he thinks, to reduce the number of hours he works and what he’s involved with.

“People would ask what I usually do on my days off. And I would say, ‘What’s a day off?’” he said.