As New Year’s Eve approaches, the Hawai‘i County Police Department (HPD) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to remind motorists about the dangers of drunk driving.

In support of the law enforcement community’s dedication to protecting the lives of residents across Hawai‘i Island, officers will be working to remove drunk drivers from the roads.

To date, there have been 1,057 DUI arrests compared with 993 during the same period in 2020, an increase of 6.4 percent. So far in 2021, 26 fatalities have occurred in Hawai‘i County, up from 15 fatalities in 2020, an increase of 73.3 percent. Of those 26 deaths, impairment was a factor in 17, or 65 percent, of the fatalities. Breaking it down further, the 17 deaths in which impairment was a factor include one alcohol-only fatality, nine drug-only related fatalities, and seven combination of alcohol and drug related fatalities.