Three months after Round Top Drive reopened following a nearly two-year closure, residents say speeding along the narrow, winding roadway is worse than ever.

And a recent accident, in which the driver of a minivan lost control and ended up in a Round Top resident's backyard, is spurring some to speak out in hopes of getting help for a problem that dates back decades.

"It's really bad," said Sue Hillmann, who was just about to start dinner March 14 when a minivan skidded off the road onto the roof of her garage, which is level with Round Top, and ended up on the side of her house in a narrow, steep portion of her yard. It is going to take a crane to get the minivan out, she said.

Hillmann, who has lived on Round Top since 1960, said she remembers speeders on the roadway since as early as the 1980s. But the speeding has gotten worse over the years. She said it appears most of those speeders are joy riders.

But some disagreed, saying many are residents in a rush.

Others say speeding is also prevalent on Tantalus Drive, the other way up the mountain.

Though Round Top and Tantalus drives have undergone major repaving projects in recent years, the width and winding path of the roads have not changed much since the early 1900s. Round Top Drive was completed in 1917, while Tantalus Drive was finished in 1902.

The speed limit on Round Top is 25 mph, but 10 mph around some turns. Residents say motorists regularly go 40 mph and up, driving in the middle of the narrow roadway at times to be able to negotiate turns at higher speeds.

"It's as bad or worse than it ever was," said Robert Becker, who has lived on Round Top Drive for six years. "It's a serious safety issue."

The city closed Round Top Drive before the hairpin turn — mauka of 'Aina Lani Way — in April 2006 after heavy rains and flooding washed out four sections of the roadway and weakened others. The road reopened Dec. 20, 2007.

Those who lived above the closure were forced go the long way around, via Tantalus Drive, adding upwards of 25 minutes to their commute. Those who lived below it quietly enjoyed the reprieve. For 20 months, they say, there were no speeders on Round Top Drive. When the road reopened, the speeders returned.

For their part, police say they are clamping down on speeders on Round Top Drive, and have been since the road reopened. Michelle Yu, police spokeswoman, said police planned for the reopening, knowing speeding would increase.

She declined to say when the officers are clocking speeders.

But she did say the number of patrols has increased.

The city, meanwhile, is doing a survey of Round Top Drive to determine the boundaries of the road and adjacent city land — the first step in figuring out what long-term measures are possible to alleviate speeding and other safety issues on the stretch, said Wayne Yoshioka, city Department of Transportation Services director.

He said he has heard new reports of speeding since Round Top reopened.

"Whenever that road is open, there are certain people who want to test out their new cars," he said.

Hillmann, who is a member of the Makiki/Lower Punchbowl/Tantalus Neighborhood Board, said there are probably no easy solutions to speeding on the roadway. Caution signs don't seem to work, and police are never able to spend enough time on the mountain to really crack down on speeders, she said.

The accident that landed the minivan in Hillmann's backyard could have left someone seriously injured. Minutes before the minivan ended up in her yard, she was in that same spot where it landed, pulling weeds. Hillmann said she was inside washing dirt from her hands when the accident happened. It made her house shake.

The minivan was traveling up Round Top Drive and somehow got off the roadway, drove over the street-level roof of her garage, spun around 180 degrees and ended up on a steep portion of Hillmann's yard on the side of her house.

It is not clear how fast the driver was going.

But Hillmann believes the woman must have been going over the limit.

"I am ... furious with all these speeders," Hillmann said. "It was so nice up here when the road was closed."

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.