At roughly the halfway mark, the number of traffic-related fatalities in Hawaii is lower than at the same time in 2022.
From Jan. 1 to June 28, there were 46 traffic-related deaths, compared with 62 during the same time period in 2022, according to preliminary statistics from the state Department of Transportation.
But for Oahu the numbers increased to 28 fatalities, compared with 24 at the same time in 2022, with double the number of motorcycle-related deaths: 12 compared with six.
Ed Sniffen, DOT director, said more than half of traffic-related fatalities involve people who are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Speeding is the other factor behind many traffic-related fatalities, he said, including for many motorcyclists. More people also are speeding at higher speeds than previous years.
“When we start seeing numbers elevate for motorcyclists, it’s generally due to speed,” he said. “Speed is an overarching factor in safety.”
Honolulu police reported Oahu’s traffic fatality No. 27 as a solo crash on the H-1 freeway in Aiea. A male motorist traveling eastbound on H-1 veered up an embankment and hit a metal signpost.
Speed appears to have been a factor, police said, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The majority of the fatalities, 15, involved motor vehicle occupants but were nearly matched with motorcycle, moped and scooter related fatalities, at 14, followed by those involving pedestrians, at 12.
There were also four bicycle-related fatalities and one involving an ATV operator.
Nine of the people killed in traffic-related fatalities were homeless, seven of them as pedestrians.
There has also been a spate of recent hit-and-run incidents resulting in serious injuries.
On June 30, at close to 1 a.m., a 42-year-old moped rider was hit from behind by a vehicle on Nimitz Highway in Kalihi, leaving him in the hospital with serious injuries.
At about 4 a.m. that same day, a 36-year-old Pahoa woman said she was struck by a motorcycle heading south on Highway 130 on Hawaii island as she was walking on the shoulder.
Both drivers fled the scene and failed to render aid.
Speed humps
Sniffen said part of DOT’s strategy to reduce traffic-related fatalities is to install speed humps throughout the state.
“Speed humps are definitely one of the tactics we’re considering throughout the system,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “If we look at reducing speed down to the speed limits, we know we can have significant impacts on the number of accidents.”
A speed hump — some of which are raised pedestrian crosswalks — acts as a physical tool to slow down drivers, he said, without depending as much on enforcement.
“So when we put in these speed humps,” he said, “physics starts controlling how fast you can go through the area, and it works every time.”
Sniffen said there is data showing that when the speed humps were present on Pali Highway, there was a 50% reduction in speeding through the Nuuanu area. The speed humps were removed during repaving, so the state has recent data for when the speed humps were present and when they were not.
Love them or hate them, some 30 more speed humps are on the way.
Statewide, 133 speed humps has been installed since 2019, nearly 100 of them on Oahu.
Most are in school zones, but the state is working with counties to install them in areas where speeding is a concern and in corridors with high pedestrian and bicyclist activity.
Sniffen said during a “Spotlight Hawaii” conversation that there have, to date, been no fatalities where the state has raised crosswalks.
“From a safety perspective they absolutely work,” said Sniffen, who emphasized he is simply asking for people to go the speed limit, not less. “The whole intent is every time you drive through that area, you’ll always slow down to that speed limit.”
Honolulu police are also stepping up impaired-driver checkpoints at undisclosed times and locations around Oahu this summer, including holidays, through Aug. 31. Honolulu police arrest approximately 2,500 drivers annually for impaired driving.
Traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels and, with it, traffic-related fatalities.
DOT counted 116 traffic-related fatalities in 2022, adjusted downward by one after further analysis.
Even with that adjustment, they were higher still than in 2021, 2020 and 2019, when there were 94, 85 and 108 traffic-related fatalities, respectively.
HIGHEST ON OAHU
Traffic-related deaths in Hawaii, Jan. 1 to June 28:
>> State (46 total): 15 motor vehicle occupants, 12 pedestrians, 14 motorcycle and scooter operators, four bicyclists, one ATV operator
>> City and County of Honolulu (28 total): nine motor vehicle occupants, four pedestrians, 12 motorcycle and scooter operators, three bicyclists
>> Hawaii County (10 total): five motor vehicle occupants, three pedestrians, one scooter operator, one ATV operator
>> Maui County (seven total): four pedestrians, one motor vehicle occupant, one scooter operator
>> Kauai County (one total): one pedestrian
