HILO — Last year was a deadly one on Big Island roads, with more official traffic fatalities than 2014 and 2015 combined.
There were 32 official traffic fatalities in 2016 as the result of 27 fatal crashes, compared to 19 official deaths in 2015 and 11 in 2014. It’s the highest total of official traffic fatalities since 38 deaths were tallied in 2012.
“On a statewide basis, there’s an increase, not just us, but from the other islands, as well,” Sgt. Robert Pauole of Hawaii Police Department’s Traffic Services Section said Tuesday. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s a national trend, too.”
He’s not mistaken. While national fatality totals for 2016 haven’t been released, the National Safety Council in July estimated 19,100 traffic fatalities on U.S. roads in the first half of 2016, an upward surge of 9 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
“We haven’t done any analysis to determine what, specifically, may be causing more deaths than normal,” Pauole said of the Big Island numbers. “While it’s part of the statistical trend, I don’t think anybody can say for sure what is causing it.”
He added that toxicology reports haven’t been returned in a number of fatal crashes.
Although the official total is 32, 34 lives were actually claimed by vehicles last year on Hawaii Island.
In the first fatality of 2016, 29-year-old Ling Oneil was killed when his moped was struck by a car Jan. 19 on a private road in Ocean View, so his death isn’t included in the official total.
Also absent from the official count is 78-year-old Gary S. Ambrose of Keaau, who was killed when he was struck by a van March 27 while trying to dump rubbish at the Keaau Transfer Station.
A Hawaii County Fire Department statement said Ambrose was pinned between the van and a chute. A 66-year-old Hilo woman, Perla Whitehawk-Taylor, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide and DUI, but later released by police pending further investigation. As of Wednesday, she hadn’t been charged.
According to court records, Whitehawk-Taylor has a prior DUI conviction, pleading no contest on March 19, 2014, after being cited on Oct. 26, 2013.
Highway 19, the Hawaii Belt Road between Hilo and Honokaa, used to have a high number of fatal collisions, but the completion of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway, more commonly referred to as Saddle Road, has caused a dramatic drop in crashes on the Hamakua Coast. There were no fatalities on Highway 19 in East Hawaii last year, although there were three deaths on the Queen Kaahumanu Highway, a stretch of Highway 19 in West Hawaii.
Pauole said Highway 11 in South Kona is a problem spot. He described it as “a dangerous roadway, well-traveled.”
“We have accidents there that seem to be similar in nature, running off the roadway,” Pauole said.
Kona had the most fatalities last year, 14 overall, with four occurring on the stretch of Highway 11 Pauole referred to. There were nine traffic deaths in Hilo, seven in Puna, two in North Kohala, and one each in South Kohala and Ka‘u.
Six of those killed were pedestrians and two were motorcyclists. Oneil was the only moped fatality.
While fatalities were up, major accidents — described as collisions with $3,000 or more in damage — actually declined. There were 1,436 major accidents in 2016 compared to 1,550 in 2015, a decrease of 7.4 percent.
More motorists were arrested for impaired driving, however, with 1,111 DUI arrests in 2016 compared to 1,064 in 2015, an increase of 4.4 percent.
Kona had the most DUI arrests, 451. Puna was second with 288, followed by South Hilo with 284, South Kohala with 53, South Kohala with 53, Hamakua with 15, Ka‘u with nine, North Kohala with six, and North Hilo with five.
Pauole acknowledged the increase in DUI enforcement but said it’s uncertain what effect that had on collisions, fatal or otherwise.
“Sometimes the accidents, they just happen,” he said. “And we do what we have to do to alleviate it by increasing our enforcement efforts in areas that are known for fatalities and major accidents.
“And it’s up to our fellow local residents to abide by the law.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
