HANA, Hawaii - The Hana Highway has found its way onto the standard checklist of Maui visitors who feel they must do something every day. (Haleakala bike ride, check; Molokini snorkel boat, check; drive to Hana ... tomorrow.) As such, it is essential to take the right approach to a journey along this road; otherwise you're due for a day of drudgery at the wheel, with the neck muscles growing tighter by the mile.

A few things to keep in mind:

An unwritten etiquette governs the many one-lane bridges, some of which exhibit their birth years in flaking paint - 1910, for example.

Stripes are painted on the highway at yield signs as you approach a bridge. A corresponding yield line will be on the other side of the bridge. If you arrive at one of these and see somebody waiting on the other side - be sure to look far beyond the bridge - you're expected to stop to let that car (and perhaps a trailing string of vehicles) across.

This practice is observed by most drivers, but don't get upset if locals in rust-bucket pickup trucks brazenly ignore it - which seems to happen whenever they see shiny rental cars creeping toward a bridge.

The same drivers also seem to think the yellow line down the middle of the highway is purely advisory. And if you don't match their often-breakneck pace, they think nothing of camping out on your rear bumper.

You'll enjoy the drive infinitely more if you don't take umbrage at any of these indignities. Yield at the bridges even if it's your turn to go. Squeeze your car as far off the roadway as possible when stopping at some sight, even if it means walking back down the highway a ways.

And if you've got someone on your tail, pull to the side and let them pass.
_ E.N.