Crossing guards, officers with the Hawaii Police Department, representatives of the Hawaii County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and partners of the East Hawaii Drug Free Coalition and other volunteers waved signs to encourage safe driving this holiday season.
“There’ve been far too many lives lost on our roads due to impaired driving,” says Torey Keltner, program manager of HPD’s Traffic Services. “We’ve recorded 33 fatalities so far this year — a 32% increase over last year. Every single fatal crash is preventable and not a single one of them is acceptable.”
In just one week, from Monday, Nov. 28, to Sunday, Dec. 4, police arrested 15 people for driving under the influence of an intoxicant.
Sally Ancheta, the coalition coordinator for the East Hawaii Drug-Free Coalition, pointed to one statewide policy change that they hope will happen in 2023: lowering the blood alcohol concentration level to 0.05. It is now 0.08.