With New Year’s Eve approaching, Hawai‘i 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. HPD and NHTSA want all drivers to remember this lifesaving message: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.

In support of the law enforcement community’s dedication to protecting the lives of residents across Hawai‘i Island, you’ll see officers working to take drunk drivers off the roads.

As part of their outreach campaign, officers will be sign waving in South Kohala and Kona on Thursday, Dec. 30, to remind motorists to drive safely.

To date, there have been 1,057 DUI arrests compared with 993 during the same period last year, 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.

According to NHTSA, nationally on average more than 10,000 people were killed each year from 2015 to 2019 — one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 52 minutes in 2019. This is why Hawai‘i Police Department is working with NHTSA to remind drivers that drunk driving is not only illegal, it is a matter of life and death. As you head out to New Year’s festivities, remember: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.