Drop in state traffic fatalities significant

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

Hawai'i's reduction in traffic fatalities was among the best in the nation last year, but officials yesterday said it could still be a lot better.

Traffic deaths across the state fell 15 percent in 2002, bucking a nationwide trend in which traffic fatalities reached a 12-year high.

Only the District of Columbia had a bigger reduction in fatalities, according to annual assessment of motor vehicle crashes compiled by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

"Of course, we're pleased but we'd like to see it become a five-year trend, not just a one-year decline," said Gordon Hong, head of the state's Safe Communities Office, which coordinates traffic safety programs.

Hong said the number of highway deaths in Hawai'i has fluctuated in the past eight years, with a high of 148 fatalities in 1996 and a low of 98 in 1999. Last year there were 119 traffic-related deaths, down from 140 the previous year.

So far this year, the trend is back up, with fatalities running 27 percent above the same time in 2002, Hong said.

Nationwide, traffic accidents killed 42,815 people in 2002, the most in any year since 1990, according to the report released this week. Another 2.93 million people were hurt.

"The rather astounding fact is that, in this day and age, we're still losing almost 43,000 people a year to highway fatalities," administration spokesman Rae Tyson said in a telephone interview. "We wonder where the sense of outrage is."

Hawai'i officials noted that safety is a top priority with the Transportation Department and hope high-profile programs like the Click It or Ticket seat belt program are paying dividends. A survey earlier this year found that more than 90 percent of Hawai'i drivers were using seat belts, one of the highest rates in the country.

"We've been stressing seat belts and maybe our fatalities went down because more people are buckling up," Hong said. Nationwide 59 percent of all occupants killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts.

The number of alcohol-related deaths in Hawai'i also declined from 59 in 2001 to 50 last year, but the percentage of fatalities involving alcohol remained about the same, 42 percent, according to the report.

"That's good news and we'll take some pleasure in it, but we also know that it could be short-lived," said Carol McMammee, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Hawai'i. "If we can save nine lives in one year, that's encouraging but we'd also like to see a continuing trend."

Despite this year's decrease, the number of alcohol-related accidents has generally been growing since 1999, she said.

"And unless everyone comes around in the next six months, it looks like the statistics are going to go back up again this year," she said.