During the week of Sept. 2-8, Hawaii Island police arrested 15 motorists for DUI. Six of the drivers were involve in traffic accidents.
The numbers of arrests by district were: South Kohala, six; South Hilo, five; Kona and Puna, two each.
Arrests for other charges stemmed from the 15 DUI arrests. One was for an open container of alcohol in vehicle, two for driving after license suspended, six for driving without a license and six for driving without insurance. In addition, there were seven arrests for other moving or regulatory violations.
So far this year, there have been 769 DUI arrests compared to 779 during the same period last year, a decrease of 1.3%.
There have been 658 major accidents so far this year compared to 858 during the same period last year, a decrease of 23.3%.
There have been 14 official traffic fatalities this year compared to 21 during the same time last year, a decrease 33.3%. There have also been three deaths on Big Island roads police don’t count toward the official the yearly traffic death toll — two because the driver was found to have suffered a medical condition that caused the collision and death and another that occurred in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is not under county jurisdiction.
DUI roadblocks and patrols will continue islandwide, police said.