Police arrested 17 motorists for suspected DUI

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Hawaii County police arrested 17 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant from April 20 to Sunday.

Hawaii County police arrested 17 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant from April 20 to Sunday.

Seven of the drivers were involved in traffic crashes and two were younger than 21.

There were five arrests in Kona and one arrest in South Kohala, according to police. South Hilo officers arrested seven drivers for driving under the influence, Puna officers arrested three and one driver in Ka‘u was arrested.

So far this year, there have been 306 DUI arrests compared with 418 during the same period last year, a decrease of 26.8 percent.

There have been 452 major accidents so far this year compared with 543 during the same period last year, a decrease of 16.8 percent.

There have been seven traffic fatalities on Hawaii Island this year compared with four during the same period last year, an increase of 75 percent.

To date, four fatalities were related to drugs and three were related to a combination of both drugs and alcohol.