MEDIA RELEASE

During the week of December 7, 2015, through December 13, 2015, Hawaiʻi Island police arrested 18 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Six of the drivers were involved in traffic crashes.

So far this year, there have been 1,028 DUI arrests compared with 1,099 during the same period last year, a decrease of 6.5 percent. The numbers of arrests by district were:

District	Weekly Total	Year to Date
Hāmākua 	0		13	
North Hilo	0		2	
South Hilo	2		305	
Puna    	8		197	
Ka’ū    	0		17	
Kona    	8		392	
South Kohala	0		97	
North Kohala	0		5	
Island Total	18		1,028

There have been 1,453 major accidents so far this year compared with 1,484 during the same period last year, a decrease of 2.1 percent.

So far this year, there were 14 fatal crashes on Hawaiʻi Island (two of which had multiple deaths), resulting in 17 traffic fatalities compared with 11 fatalities during the same period last year. That represents an increase of 27.3 percent for fatal crashes and 54.5 percent for fatalities.

To date, impairment was a factor in 11 fatalities. Of those, six involved drugs and five involved both drugs and alcohol.

DUI roadblocks and patrols will continue island wide.