Posted on: Saturday, October 16, 2004
More teens in state die on roads
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The number of young drunken drivers killed on Hawai'i's roadways appears to be rising at a time when the opposite is occurring nationwide.
A study released yesterday by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration found that nationally fewer young drivers died in 2003, and that fewer of those deaths involved alcohol. However, Hawai'i deaths for drivers 15 to 20 years old increased 68 percent, from 19 in 2002 to 32 in 2003.
State transportation statistics for a similar age range — 15 to 24 years old — also show an increase. Those numbers show that in 2002, 32 traffic deaths in Ha-
wai'i involved young drivers. The number grew to 42 for last year, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the Department of Transportation. And alcohol-related deaths for that age group rose from 17 to 31, he said.
"That was pretty alarming," Ishikawa said.
One of the tragic features of the 2003 death toll was that many of the fatal, alcohol-related accidents involved more than one person. In nine accidents, 24 lives were claimed. "People, especially young people, are continuing to drive with someone who is drunk," Ishikawa said.
The national data show a steady decline in crashes among young people in which alcohol was a factor. Alcohol contributed to 25 percent of the fatal crashes involving young drivers last year.
In Hawai'i, alcohol-related driving deaths overall have been on a relatively steady climb since 1999, said Connie Abram, executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawai'i. But the group has no clear reason for why that has happened.
"We're perplexed but really concerned," Abram said. "We're looking at more creative targeted ways to address the problem."
Among the solutions is an existing program that uses young people to lobby for changes in government and a "peer education" program that may start next year if $25,000 in state money is approved, she said. The latter program ends with teens teaching younger students about the dangers of drinking and driving.
"We really think that young kids seeing a teenager saying you should be alcohol-free will get the message across."
Law enforcement efforts also will increase this month, not only with young drivers as a target. Police in all four Hawai'i counties will set up weekly sobriety checkpoints for the next 12 months in what has been dubbed the "52/12" program.
The idea is to increase the element of surprise, since many drivers are familiar with checkpoints only on holidays.
"This program is meant to shake things up," Ishikawa said.
Mainland cities have used the program successfully, he said.
Abram said the idea is not solely to catch drunken drivers. "The idea is not to pick up drunk drivers but to deter drunk driving to begin with," she said. "We hope no one is out there to be detected."
Reach Mike Gordon at 525-8012 or mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
