Posted on: Friday, April 22, 2005

Hawai'i traffic deaths reach eight-year high

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

The number of people killed in traffic accidents in Hawai'i rose to the highest level in eight years, according to statistics released yesterday by the state Transportation Department.

In all, 142 people died on public roads across the state in 2004. Thirty-one of them were pedestrians.

There was one ray of good news in the statistics: The number of alcohol-related deaths appeared to drop sharply.

"We don't have all the reports in, but right now there are only 54 confirmed alcohol-related accidents, compared to 71 last year," DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.

The 142 people killed last year represented the highest total since 1996, when 145 fatalities were recorded.

In 2003, 133 people died on the roads in Hawai'i.

"If it's not alcohol, it's speeding or something else that we're trying to pinpoint," Ishikawa said.

Transportation officials credit a number of new programs, including regular weekly DUI roadblocks and a summer program to promote designated nondrinking drivers, with helping to reduce alcohol-related accidents.

They also plan to increase several other programs aimed at educating drivers and pedestrians.

A Honolulu program to promote pedestrian safety among senior citizens, Walk-Wise Hawai'i, will be expanded this month to go statewide and cover all age groups.

In addition, the state will renew its Click it or Ticket program to enforce seat-belt use next month, Ishikawa said.

"We're trying many different facets," he said. "Our motto is that one death is still too many."

Nationwide, the highway fatality rate last year reached its lowest point since records were first kept nearly 40 years ago, the government said yesterday.

The rate dropped even as the total number of traffic deaths inched up because more drivers were on the road, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Overall, 42,800 people died on the nation's highways in 2004, up from 42,643 in 2003.

At the same time, people drove more miles, so the fatality rate dropped a bit, from 1.48 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2003 to 1.46 deaths in 2004.

That's the lowest since records were first kept in 1966, NHTSA said.

Alcohol-related fatalities slid 2.1 percent last year, to 16,654.

Reporting the mixed results, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the nation was "in the midst of a national epidemic" and urged motorists to buckle up.

"If this many people were to die from any one disease in a single year, Americans would demand a vaccine," Mineta said. "The irony is we already have the best vaccine available to reduce the death toll on our highways — safety belts."

Fifty-six percent of those killed weren't wearing seat belts, a rate unchanged from 2003.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.