Speeding on Maui: Traffic fatalities double in 2021 vs. 2020

2021 has been quite a year as the world navigates living with COVID-19, and as the state of Hawaiʻi reopens post a state-wide shut down, the community of Maui County has seen a dramatic increase in traffic fatalities and the pain from the loss is rippling through our community. It is unfortunate that we are losing friends and family to something that is completely preventable.

So far in 2021 Maui County currently stands at 15 traffic fatalities compared to six the same time last year, a 150 percent increase. Nine fatalities in 2021 were alcohol, drugs and speed related, representing 60 percent of all crashes. DUI arrests are up 22 percent, at 552 in 2021 compared to 453 in 2020, says Lauren Armstrong, Executive Director of the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization. Of the 15 traffic fatalities, six were drivers of motor vehicles, four pedestrians, four motorcyclists and scooter drivers, and one bicyclist.

As of December 1, traffic violence had claimed 82 lives in Hawaiʻi in 2021.  That’s a 10 percent increase from the same time last year.  Christopher (CJ) Johnson from the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health says, “Fully 30 percent of those traffic fatalities have been people walking, rolling or riding bicycles. We will not solve this problem by thinking of it as a series of individual failures of attention, education and compliance. Our systems are broken.” 

 According to Lauren Armstrong, “Traffic fatalities are preventable. The Vision Zero Maui Action Plan was adopted by the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization and Maui County Council in 2021. The Plan outlines a set of strategies to eliminate traffic fatalities through education, engineering and enforcement.” The Vision Zero Maui Speed Mitigation Campaign will address road safety concerns and begin the implementation of the Vision Zero Maui Action Plan to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2040. The goal of the Speed Mitigation Campaign is to help improve road safety with reduced vehicle speeds.  

 Speeding and impaired driving are serious concerns going into the holiday season. Maui MPO, the Healthy Eating + Active Living Coalition and Maui Police Department are creating a Public Service Announcement video reminding drivers to “Slow Down, Respect Life.” The video features young people whose lives were lost too soon to speeding and impaired drivers, and will be promoted on social media and television.

Funding for the Speed Mitigation Campaign is provided by the Maui County Office of Economic Development with fiscal sponsorship from the Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute. With Vision Zero Maui, the only acceptable number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries is zero. Please drive safe this holiday season and be on the lookout for the Vision Zero Speed Mitigation PSA. To download the full Vision Zero Plan please go to mauimpo.org.  For more information about the HEAL Coalition for Maui, Molokai and Lānaʻi, please contact the HEAL Community Coordinator Lauren Loor at lauren@hiphi.org.