Big Island police have arrested 778 people on suspicion of drunken driving this year, an increase of about 7 percent compared to the same time last year, a police news release said.

The bump in arrests coincides with an 18 percent drop in major accidents. This year there have been 681 major accidents, while at this time last year there were 830.

At the same time, traffic fatalities on the Big Island jumped nearly 64 percent with 18 so far this year, compared with 11 at this time last year.

Police are continuing with sobriety checkpoints islandwide and have arrested 31 motorists for drunk driving during the week of June 28 through July 4. Six of those drivers were in traffic crashes.