Police start holiday DUI enforcement

Police will conduct islandwide DUI checkpoints throughout the holiday season.

The effort is part of a national and statewide campaign called “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.” The campaign starts today and runs through Jan. 3, 2016.

Sgt. Robert Pauole, leader of the Hawaii Police Department’s Traffic Services Section, points out that drugs, or a combination of alcohol and drugs, have been factors in nearly 65 percent of the 17 official traffic fatalities on the Big Island so far this year.

There have been 1,868 traffic fatalities during the past 15 years in Hawaii, more deaths than from drowning and firearms combined.