That is, do we think about safety? I happened to drive by the Atkinson Plaza on Wednesday as it was surrounded by fire trucks and police cars, later finding out the reason for the commotion: a 3-year-old child fell out of a window by the elevators onto the concrete awning over the entryway.
How are windows that wide open even possible in a building's common area? I don't know. Kama‘aina can't agree on whether or not we should be allowed to ride in the back of pick-up trucks. The Honolulu Police Department scolds us with $92 tickets for not wearing our seat belts. Pedestrian safety is a joke. The Hawaii Bicycling League offers workshops that include safety advice, since cyclists feel menaced. We require motorcyclists to wear some sort of eye protection, but not an actual helmet.
A Canadian friend of mine asked me what I make of all this. I kinda shrugged. I've ridden in the backs of pick-ups. It's fun.
Canada is appalled. Back home, helmets are mandatory, as are seat belts for adults in the back seat ("They become missiles in an accident otherwise"), so are helmets for cyclists, and no one would be foolish enough to ride in the back of a truck or consent to drive a truck with people in the back and exterior windows of high-rises don't open widely enough for 3-years-olds to crawl through.
Perhaps we have more fun than Canadians. But perhaps we're not immune to the kind of delusion that leads tourists to take risks here they wouldn't take at home, getting into trouble in the ocean or while hiking. It's such a beautiful place, how could anything bad possibly happen to us?
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