With O'ahu traffic deaths at an 11-year high, Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa yesterday announced an aggressive new enforcement initiative that will target speeders and other traffic offenders.

"Enough is enough," Correa said in announcing the move. "I think we have to do something about it."

The chief said traffic-fatality statistics had simply become unacceptable. This year, 82 people have died in 75 crashes on O'ahu's roadways, of which approximately half involved speeding, he said.

Those figures compare with 66 traffic deaths last year and 56 the year before, during the same period.

"Police will step up strict enforcement of speeding and other traffic laws on our roadways," Correa said. "And when I say step up, I mean there will be a significant number of officers whose special assignment is to conduct traffic enforcement.

"We have formed a task force and these officers will be out on the road at unannounced times and locations across the island. Our goal is to slow down traffic, and encourage people to drive responsibly."

The number of officers involved, and where and when they will patrol, won't be announced, he said.

Correa's announcement won immediate praise, both nationally and locally.

Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit organization representing state highway safety agencies, including Hawai'i's, was quick to applaud Correa's decision.

"My kudos to him," Harsha said. "If the police chief is forming a task force to address the issue, he's doing the right thing. What he is doing is not only really good, but it puts him on the leading edge."

Other cities can follow Correa's lead, she said.

"We're getting people to put on their seat belts more, and we're making a little bit of inroads against drunk driving. But we're not very successful with speeding," she said.

"It's very difficult to enforce speed limits. And there's really just a culture of speed in this country."

Wai'anae resident Patty Teruya, who has been involved with HPD's annual Live and Let Live traffic awareness safety campaign along Farrington Highway for 22 years, also applauded the move. "I am glad our chief is taking charge in this, because, yes, speeding on our highways is out of control," Teruya said. "These cars are racing, and it's scary.

"I am so glad HPD is going to catch our speeders — not only in Wai'anae, but the whole island."

TEENS GOING TOO FAST

Speeding was a factor in several high-profile traffic deaths this year, some of which involved multiple fatalities.

A speeding car that went airborne after it topped a rise on Pa'akea Road in Ma'ili in February flipped on its left side and slid into a street signpost, a fence and a utility pole. The 19-year-old female driver and a 15-year-old girl passenger were killed.

A car that was speeding along Roosevelt Road in Kalaeloa went off the end of the road and plowed into the embankment of a canal in July, killing a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman. A 14-year-old boy who was a passenger was injured.

Two teenagers — a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl — were killed in August when the boy lost control of the car as it rounded a turn past Kokololio Bridge on Kamehameha Highway and slammed into a utility pole. Police said the car was speeding.

Despite the number of teen speeding deaths, however, Correa said the task force wouldn't target any specific age group. He did acknowledge that the problem frequently involves 18- to 25-year-old-drivers.

Correa said the task force would be led by the HPD's traffic division head, Maj. Susan Dowsett, along with Capt. Robert Green.

"This is going to ramp up from today on," Correa said. "I'm not going to get into the (personnel) numbers, but I can say this is the largest task force since I've been chief of police. It's a major, major push for us."

He said the task force would begin immediately and focus on specific trouble spots where speeding violations are prevalent.

SIMILAR PLAN IN LATE '70S

Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said he hoped the initiative would curb "an ever-growing problem in the past several years."

Ishikawa said the department has a particular interest in the idea because it provides federal money earmarked for speed enforcement to each of the state's four county police departments. Last year, for example, he said HPD's share of the federal funding came to $141,000.

Correa said the special task force wouldn't cost taxpayers any additional money because its members would be officers reassigned from nonpatrol elements of the department.

Correa said the task force idea is a return to a similar plan that was implemented briefly in 1979, when O'ahu traffic fatalities reached 118 deaths in one year. That campaign succeeded in stopping all traffic fatalities for three months.

"I'm not saying that's going to happen now," he said. "But we have to make an effort to try to cut back on so much carnage on our roads."

Because of that late-1970s effort, and other mitigating factors — such as quicker response times, improved vehicle safety equipment, and stricter drinking laws — the number of fatalities soon began to decline.

In 1985, the number of fatalities was down to 86. By 1999, traffic deaths had dropped to 47. Since then, though, the figures have escalated again. This year the fatality rate is poised to equal or surpass that of two decades ago.

Officials with the Honolulu Fire Department and the Emergency Medical Services Division were at yesterday's news conference.

"Paramedics respond to tragedies," said Patty Dukes, EMS chief. "And these are avoidable tragedies. ... We'd like people to slow down because, for us, when business is slow, business is good."

For motorists in a hurry to get where they're going, Correa had two words of advice:

"Leave early."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.