During the week of March 6 through March 12, 2023, Hawai‘i Island police arrested 17 motorists for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Five of the drivers were involved in a traffic accident while one of the drivers was under the age of 21.  

Thus far in 2023, there have been 211 DUI arrests compared with 231 during the same period last year, a decrease of 8.7 percent. 

A review of all updated traffic crashes by Hawai‘i Police Department’s Traffic Services Section found 180 major crashes so far in 2023 compared with 146 during the same period last year, an increase of 23.3 percent.  

To date, there have been four fatal crashes, resulting in five fatalities, (Rvsd. 2/07/23: one fatal crash reclassified—manner of death was due to natural causes) and (one fatal crash had multiple deaths); compared with seven fatal crashes, resulting in nine fatalities (one of which had multiple deaths) for the same time last year. This represents a decrease of 42.9 percent for fatal crashes, and 44.4 percent for fatalities