KAILUA-KONA — DUI arrests have slightly increased according to the Hawaii Police Department’s weekly DUI stats report released Tuesday.
Compared to 17 arrests the week before, during the week of Aug. 14-20, Hawaii Police arrested 21 motorists for driving under the influence an intoxicant. Five of the drivers were involved in a traffic accident and one of the drivers was under the age of 21.
The highest number of arrests were once again in the Kona district with nine individuals taken into custody. Puna had six, South Hilo had five and Ka’u had one, according to police.
So far this year, police report there has been a 9.2 percent increase in DUI arrests compared to last year from 666 to 727.
However, there has been a 6.9 percent decrease in major accidents. So far this year, there have been 840 crashes compared with 902 during the same time period last year.
Despite the decrease in major crashes, police state, there was 61.5 percent increase in fatal crashes and 53.3 percent increase in fatalities.. To date, there were 21 fatal crashes, resulting in 23 fatalities, compared with 13 crashes resulting in 15 fatalities for the same time last year.
Police say DUI roadblocks and patrols will continue islandwide.