HONOLULU (KHON2) — Officials call it the “100 deadliest days of summer.” It’s the combination of Memorial Day weekend and graduation season adding more drivers on the road.
“It equals drunk driving, equals more fatalities,” said Ed Sniffen, Hawaii Department of Transportation Director.
There are over a dozen high school graduations on Friday, with more taking place over the weekend. The State Transportation Department is keeping safety top of mind for drivers by using its message boards to flash reminders.
“Educational messaging is always important to the public. So we thought it was a creative way to get more messaging out there and so we have messaging from the community coming in to let us know these are things important to them,” Sniffen said.
According to HDOT, there have been 36 traffic fatalities statewide so far this year which is down from 41 for the same time period last year. However, officials said there can’t be another month like March which saw 12 traffic deaths alone.
Hawaii County has seen the most fatalities with alcohol and speed as major factors.
“The types of speeding that we’re seeing are vehicles in excess of over 100 miles an hour,” said Sgt. Thomas Koyanagi, Hawaii Police Department Traffic Division Area II. “We’re going to be out there doing saturation patrols, static checkpoints, making sure people are not operating vehicles impaired either under alcohol or drugs.”
For advocates like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, it’s the same message year after year. They hope, the public realizes the consequences aren’t worth it.
“The lives lost, the victims, what we say here is no more victims,” said Arkie Koehl, Mothers Against Drunk Driving board member. “It’s an incredible pain, it’s an incredible suffering, incredible loss for everyone concerned and it’s just a tragedy all around.”
The City is urging the public to utilize ride-sharing, The Bus, Biki, or walk to graduations and events this weekend to minimize traffic on the roads.