Man, how stupid can people be? As if turning off the wipers gonna save her car

[theking]

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A tourist drove her car into the water at Honokohau Small Boat Harbor on the Big Island exactly a month after an identical incident at the same harbor in Hawaii.

Two fishers were nearby to assist the motorist and filmed the vehicle sinking late May 29. Drew Solmonson and his son Mason captured the moment and shared it on Instagram. In the video, the car slowly sinks into the harbor as the high beams light up the emerald water.

In the video, the fishers yell for the driver to immediately abandon the vehicle as she grabs her belongings and attempts to turn off the windshield wipers. As the motorist swims to their boat, sirens are heard approaching the dock.

“What a way to end the day, huh?” Mason Solmonson said in the clip. Drew Solmonson added in the comment section that he watched the motorist drive into the water from the top of the ramp.

“We were trying to land the boat and screaming the whole time to get her attention but her GPS had told her to go there so she drove right in,” he explained. World Surf League champion Kelly Slater responded, “So many questions,” to the clip.

Hawaii News Now reported that the visitor suffered no injuries and the vehicle has since been salvaged.

Ryan Aguilar, spokesperson with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, told SFGATE that there are no plans to add signage to the harbor. “It’s really clear that it is a ramp and it leads directly into the water,” he said.

Tourists in Hawaii followed their GPS and drove their car straight into a harbor: 'Pretty sure that was not supposed to happen'

"I was just sitting there trying to seek shelter from the rain, and then the next thing, I saw a car drive directly past our boat straight into the harbor at a pretty decent speed," Hutchinson told The Post. "It was so confidently done, they didn't have a look of panic on their face. They were still smiling."

Hutchinson's video on Sunday shows the car's windshield wipers still moving as the car slowly tipped forwards, but the women did not appear to be panicking.

"And it took us a second to figure out what was going on because they didn't seem panicked or have any sense of urgency to get out of the car," she told Hawaii News Now.

"Pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen," Hutchinson said in her video, while other witnesses shouted at the tourists to get out of the car.

Eventually, the tourists unbuckled themselves. The passenger climbed out through the window and waded out, while the driver sat on the window, seemingly unsure of how to escape.

The video also showed several men stepping in to try to save the women, and get the car out of the harbor. At one point, a man stepped in to help the driver get out of the vehicle, and onto dry land.

The video also captured the moment the car sank into the harbor — dipping into the water nose first, then disappearing beneath the surface.

The video was later hauled out of the water by tow crews, per Hawaii News Now.

Hutchinson told Insider that the tourists told her their car was not insured.

She added that she believed that the tourists were sisters, but that she did not have any other information on them. However, no one was hurt in the incident, she said.

When on land, the tourists said that they were on their way to a manta ray tour, Hutchinson told Insider.

"There are manta companies directly on either side of the ramp and I can see how such a mistake could happen in heavy rain perhaps," she said.

Samantha Tavares, an information specialist for Hawaii's Department of Transportation, told The Post that the occurrence was "kind of rare" because the GPS directions are usually accurate in the state.


Tavares gave advice for tourists in Hawaii, telling The Post: "If you see a body of water, don't drive towards it."

The Hawaii Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside of regular business hours.