During the week of March 13 through March 19, 2023, Hawai`i Island police arrested 19 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Five of the drivers were involved in a traffic accident while two of the drivers were under the age of 21. Thus far in 2023, there have been 230 DUI arrests compared with 249 during the same period last year, a decrease of 7.6 percent. After a review of all updated crashes, Hawai‘i Police Department’s Traffic Services Section found 204 major crashes so far in 2023 compared to 157 during the same period last year, an increase of 29.9 percent. To date, there have been four fatal crashes, resulting in five fatalities, (Rvsd. 02/07/23: one fatal crash reclassified—manner of death was due to natural causes) and (one fatal crash had multiple deaths); compared with eight fatal crashes, resulting in 10 fatalities (one of which had multiple deaths) for the same time last year. This represents a decrease of 50 percent for fatal crashes, and 50 percent for fatalities.
