Encountering a Puna road-rage driver

[Kelena]

It is not a good thing that there are places in this country where a road rager would be executed on the spot for his behavior. What we need is less rage and not more. In there mere half-decade that I have been here I have witnessed more impatient driving. The story I like to tell when I'm in America is of the time I was about to pull out from the driveway of a local business and right onto the main drag in Hilo. I went to the edge of the driveway, stopped, and checked to make sure I had a paper I needed. When I looked up again, six cars had stopped just to let me out onto the highway. No one honked. I shot a shaka and quickly zipped out, grateful to be here.

But since then I have the sneaking suspicion that others followed me here. I am starting to see some of the behavior that I saw in America. I'm also starting to see suggestions that people who exhibit this behavior be summarily executed.

I know that not all of this is imported. But I do think some of it is. I was with friends from San Diego on the Kona side a couple years ago and we were behind a pokey Japanese lady on the belt road. My friend's husband had steam coming out of his over how slow she was going. He gestured in exasperation and wondered why people were like that here! You know, I need to get to my next island destination as fast as possible so I can hurry up and relax!