The number of traffic-related fatalities in the state is growing, but below last year’s rate, according to preliminary statistics from the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

For 2020 through Wednesday, there have been 15 traffic-related fatalities, including four involving motor vehicle occupants, six involving pedestrians, and five involving motorcycles.

The total is three fewer than the 18 traffic-related fatalities recorded on Hawaii roads during the same period last year.

The statistics do not include the pedestrian fatality that occurred Thursday morning on Highway 130, south of the Keaau Transfer Station. Police have identified the pedestrian as 58-year-old David Foster Perrells of Pahoa.

They do, however, include fatalities from the head-on collision that occurred Tuesday night on Kamehameha Highway, killing a mother and son. Tiana K. Wooten, 31, and Xayden Wooten, 7, of Hauula, died in the crash.

Oahu had the greatest share of fatalities, with eight, followed by Hawaii County, at four, Maui County, two, and Kauai County, one.

So far this year, there have been far more motorcycle fatalities, five compared with just one during the same period last year.

The total number of traffic fatalities in Hawaii in 2019 was 108, down from 117 in 2018.

To be counted, a fatal crash must involve a motor vehicle traveling on a traffic way customarily open to the public and result in the death of at least one person within 30 days, according to state officials.