During the week of February 13 through February 19, 2023, Hawai`i Island police arrested 15 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Four of the drivers were involved in a traffic accident and none of the drivers were under the age of 21.
Thus far in 2023, there have been 145 DUI arrests compared with 162 during the same period in 2022, a decrease of 2.4 percent.
After a review of all updated crashes, the Hawai‘i County Police Department’s Traffic Services Section found 131 major collisions in 2023 compared with 100 during the same period last year, an increase of 31 percent.
To date, there have been three fatal crashes, resulting in four 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 five fatal crashes, resulting in seven fatalities (one of which had multiple deaths) for the same time last year. This represents a decrease of 40 percent for fatal crashes, and 42.9 percent for fatalities.