HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0042.010 2004-2006 i
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"How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died"
Blowing in the Wind, Bob Dylan
Comm. No. ~Z'v
Ref. To: f're
Ref. bate f1F(~, 9~9f1f1G
_
June 18, 2004
w~~~Y`~ ~ Dear Safety Advocate,
~ ~ We hope that you will take a few minutes to review the attached facts
and recommendations to reduce motor vehicle related deaths and
injuries on the Big Island. The data is clear that the rates of motor
~ vehicle related crashes in Hawaii County are three times higher than
~ Honolulu and two times higher than Maui and Kauai.
~ It is equally clear that there are evidence based interventions, which
s ~ $=w.
~ can help. Significant improvement will require interventions in many
` t h~"~~<~''~,~; sectors and the rewards in saving lives and reducing injuries could
be great.
We hope you will join us in supporting these recommendations. If
t you would like more data, please let us know.
~ Sincerely,
U;~.
r ~a a
~ .
Sharon H. Vitousek, M.D.
`y'~^ North Hawaii Outcomes Project, Director
~
- - Enclosure: Recommendations to the Mayor, County Council, Big Island Legislators, and Governor to
Reduce Motor Vehicle Related Fatalities in Hawaii County- June 2004
1
F#awaii County Motor Vehicle Related (MVR) Fatalities 8~ Injuries
Fact Sheet
What are the facts?
• Hawaii County has an average motor vehicle related fatality rate per age adjusted
100,000/population, from 1996 - 2000, which is three times higher than City and County
of Honolulu and two times higher than Maui and Kauai counties.
• Hawaii County motor vehicle related fatality rates for 2001and 2002 were also similarly
high compared to other counties. Hawaii County motor vehicle related deaths for the first
quarter of 2004 are nearly two times higher than the first quarter of 2003.
• Within Hawaii County the rate of motor vehicle related deaths is highest in Hamakua,
Kau and South Kona, while the number of motor vehicle related deaths is highest in
Puna and South Kona.
• On average from 1997 - 2002, Hawaii County motor vehicle related fatality rates have
been higher in the summer months following graduation and during typical school
vacation times, December and March.
• On average, from 1988 - 2001, 52.9% of motor vehicle related deaths in Hawaii County
were alcohol related, while 47.2% of motor vehicle related deaths in the State for the
same time were alcohol related. The national average is 40%.
• While the percentage of alcohol related crashes has decreased nationally and in other
counties of Hawaii, it has not decreased in Hawaii County.
• For injuring causing crashes in Hawaii County from 1997 - 2001 the most common driver
is a male between the ages of 19 - 20 years old.
• For injury causing crashes for 1997 - 2001 in Hawaii County the most common
passenger is a female 15 -18 years old.
• Hawaii County has the highest rate of injury causing motor vehicle crashes in the State
when calculated both by population and by vehicle miles traveled.
• Over the past year (2003) there has been a significant increase in traffic and drive times
in Hawaii County.
Source: Department of Health -Injury Prevention Division, Department of Transportation, North Hawaii
Outcomes Project
Motor Vehicle Related Crash Reduction Group - 2004 2
Why Are We Addressing This Issue?
Figure 1-shows the disturbing data Figure 1
that Hawaii County(red), and North Motor Vehicle Crash Fatality Rate
Hawaii (green) have significantly
higher motor vehicle crash fatality
rates when compared to the rest of 35 _
the State(blue). ~
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a 10
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1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Source- HHIC / DOH
North Hawaii -9F Hawai 1 ~-State
Fi ure 2
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, . - . ~I ~ ~ r+ 95 0 ~ a3 =adjusted'
Figure 2 -shows the 5-year Hawaii r, * - ~ 3
~ F~15solu a tiUmbAr of deA~Siri p~'2nt1ie51S.}
County Motor Vehicle fatality rate
(red) is significantly higher than the
other counties in Hawaii State.
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69.6
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38.4
[345)
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Hawaii County Honolulu County Kauai County Maui t:ounry
en.~.~. NMP Xeu~an MOierVMele iviLily PeueiM Prgect ]00] py MprawG im Ha+e MO.MPH
There are numerous factors which may contribute to the higher motor vehicle fatality rate in Hawaii
County (original data available upon request). This report reviews data from Department of Health,
Department of Transportation, and Dr. Ten Have, which may help stakeholders understand why Hawaii
County rates are higher and which interventions are most likely to have the biggest impact. In addition it
should be noted that rural areas commonly have higher motor vehicle crash death rates then more
urban areas.
Motor Vehicle Related Crash Fatality Reduction Group-?004
Recommendations to the Hawaii County Mayor
Hawaii County Council, Big Island Legislators and Hawaii State Governor
To Reduce Motor Vehicle Related Fatalities in Hawaii County- June 2004
The following recommendations have been endorsed by the Motor Vehicle Crash Reduction Group.
(See Appendix I for names and organizations) This group has been meeting for the past year to analyze the
complex factors behind the disproportionately high motor vehicle related death rate in Hawaii County.
We recommend that:
A. Hawaii County and Hawaii State identify Hawaii County Motor Vehicle Related (MVR) fatalities and
injuries as a priority issue requiring an interdisciplinary approach and additional resources.
B. Hawaii County and Hawaii State collaborate to support improvement of data collection,
assessment, and dissemination to relevant traffic safety interest groups to help answer the
questions, "why?" and "what should be done to improve?"
1. Track the annual number of Hawaii County Motor Vehicle Related fatalities and injuries; also track
deaths among residents and non-residents, and deaths on public roads and private roads.
2. Target impaired driving because alcohol is the probable cause of approximately 50% of Motor Vehicle
Related fatalities in Hawaii County, and because there is evidence that interventions to reduce impaired
driving are effective in reducing MVR fatalities. For measuring the effect of the impaired driving
intervention, define two benchmarks and set a goal of a 10% reduction in both benchmarks bV the end
of year 2007.
(i) Benchmark #1 The Hawaii County Five-Year Alcohol-Related, Fatal Crash Rate
(ii) Benchmark #2 The Hawaii County Five-Year Proportion of Fatal Crashes that are Alcohol-Related
3. Develop a county specific INTER-AGENCY working group whose goal is to add value to the
assessment of "hot spots" already currently undertaken by State Department of Transportation and
County Department of Public Works. ("Hot spots' are clusters of fatalities and/or injury causing crashes
at roughly the same location. For examples, see Appendix III Explanations - B 3.) The goal is to
develop a working process, or system, for sharing "hot-spot" information with other agencies, and
putting interventions in place so that potential problems can be identified early, rather than after-the-
fact, when the problems become more obvious. Obstacles to the process should be identified and
solutions proposed, such as:
(i) Assuring the protection from liability, which is mandated by federal law.
(ii) Investigate academic partners with expertise in developing integrated information systems
for real-time tracking of fatalities and crashes.
C. Hawaii County implements the following evidence-based interventions:
1. Develop a county task force as recommended by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) to reduce drinking and driving. Ideally locate this task force in an existin county lead agency
and work with MADD to identify champions. This task force would develop a visible partnership with
the NHTSA campaign, "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose," as welt as follow the model of other mainland
counties who have successful local DUI task forces.
2. Support effective staffing of the Hawaii County Drug Recognition Evaluation (DRE) Program.
3. Support graduated licenses.
4. Support Community Roads Safety Watch Efforts -Solutions 2000 (Tool countywide) to report reckless
Driving to the non-emergency police line (Currently 935-3311).
5. On-going support of Solutions 2000 efforts to reduce speeding in Hawaii County.
D. Encourage an integrated planning and design process for improvement in roads, Emergency
Medical Services and public transportation.
Motor Vehicle Related Crash Fatality Reduction Group - 2004 4
Appendix I
Name Organization
Mr. Tom Brown County of Hawaii -Mass Transit Agency
Mr. Bruce McClure County of Hawaii -Department of Public Works
Bat. Chief Scottie Paiva County of Hawaii -Fire Department/Emergency Medical Systems
Mr. Lester Inouye County of Hawaii -Fire Department/Emergency Medical Systems
Lt. James Sanborn County of Hawaii -Police Department
Sgt. Randy Apele County of Hawaii -Police Department
Ms. Jan Yokoyama County of Hawaii -Department of Health
Mr. John Kaizuka County of Hawaii -Department of Health
Ms. Carrie Kuwada County of Hawaii -Department of Health
Mr. Eric Tash Department of Health -Injury Prevention Program
Dr. Dan Galanis Department of Health -Injury Prevention Program
Ms. Lori Suan Department of Health- Injury Prevention Program
Mr. Gordon Hong Department of Transportation
Fred Holschuh, M.D. Hawaii County Council (District 1), Retired Hilo Medical Center E.R.
Physician
Andy Ten Have, M.D. Honolulu Health Research
Sharon Vitousek, M.D. North Hawaii Outcomes Project
Ms. Lilian Beaufrere Solutions 2000: Neighborhoods in Action
Mrs. Bets Lawrence South Kohala Traffic Committee
Mr. Earl Bakken The Earl & Doris Bakken Foundation
Motor Vehicle Related Crash Fata;ity Reduction Group - 2004 5
Appendix II and 111
Appendix II -TERMINOLOGY
Terminology should be clarified so that the Mayor's office, policy makers and elected officials know the
importance of tracking all victims killed in motor vehicle related crashes including pedestrians, bicyclists,
motorcyclists and occupants. Therefore, the Department of Health Injury Prevention Epidemiologists
recommends the terminology "motor vehicle-related fatalities." This term is preferred over "motor vehicle crash
(MVC) fatalities' because "crash" could connote that there is only concern with occupants. The terminology of
"traffic crash fatalities' is not preferred because "traffic crash" could leave the impression of excluding
pedestrians and cyclists. The term motor vehicle or traffic "accident" is no longer used because it is generally
agreed that many of the crashes are both predictable.
Appendix III -DATA DEFINITIONS 8 EXPLANATIONS
DEFINITIONS
(i) Benchmark #1 The Hawaii County Five-Year Alcohol-Related, Fatal Crash Rate is defined as the
following ratio: the annual number of fatal crashes that are alcohol-related (averaged over the most
recent five years) divided by the annual number of registered drivers in Hawaii County (also averaged
over the most recent five years). Five year averages are used because the number of fatal crashes
fluctuates greatly from year to year.
(ii) Benchmark #2 The Hawaii County Five-Year Proportion of Fatal Crashes that are Alcohol-related is
defined as the following ratio: the annual number of fatal crashes that are alcohol-related (averaged
over the most recent five years) divided by the annual total number of fatal crashes in Hawaii County
(also averaged over the most recent five years). Five year averages are used because the number of
fatal crashes fluctuates from year to year.
EXPLANATIONS for Recommendations:
B 2. Although the interventions ideally address impaired driving from drug use as well as alcohol, these
benchmarks only track alcohol-related crashes because interventions to reduce alcohol impairment
have been studied and recommended extensively at the national level. We are currently studying
whether there is evidence that benchmarks and intervention programs to reduce drug-related fatalities
are also effective.
The benchmarks track the number ofalcohol-related fatality causing crashes, rather than the total
number of deaths related to crashes. This is because the intervention will be designed to reduce the
number of impaired drivers on the road, and may not affect numbers ofmulti-occupant fatalities
involved in alcohol-related crashes.
We define two benchmarks because the first one takes into account the annual change in the number
of registered drivers on the road, and the second benchmark takes into account changes in driving
habits or road conditions, which could affect the likelihood of both alcohol and non-alcohol related crash
fatalities from year to year.
B 3. By jointly monitoring "hot spots," Police, Liquor Control, Department of Health and Department of
Transportation/County Department of Public Works could identify nearby stores, bars, clubs (or other
favorite party locations) indirectly causing the high risk of crashes in one area. Another example: "hot
spots" with more than the usual number of teen drivers involved in crashes may point to nearby schools
or other teen "hang-outs," and this information could be useful to Department of Health, Department of
Education and parent-organizations to target effective interventions.
Motor Vehicle Related Gash Fatality Reduction Group - 2004 6
Appendix IV
Recommendations from National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) on the role of a
Hawaii County DUI Task Force
From: Paul Snodgrass NHTSA (in an informal a-mail answering the question, "what is the role of county DUI
task forces?"
To: Gordon in Hawaii DOT and public health partners:
State DUI Task Forces are made up of State government agencies and statewide organizations, like MADD
and sometimes AAA, Restaurant Association, etc. They do statewide stuff, like propose legislation, do ad
campaigns, etc.
At the county level Task Forces its county-level folks, focusing more on local, grassroots issues. Some focus
mostly on the criminal justice system ,like how well the police are doing DUI enforcement, reducing processing
time and paperwork in making DUI arrests how courts track and handle cases and getting people into effective
sanctions promptly license suspension vehicle impoundment alcohol treatment programs ignition interlocks
jail, and all the rest.
Many local task forces get into outreach and prevention type programs, like setting up designated driver
programs in local bars and restaurants, working with cab companies or volunteers to get free or cheap rides
home, etc. Usually local businesses are involved in various ways, to donate what they can, whether ads,
posters billboards cab rides free soft drinks and snacks for designated drivers, etc.
At the local task force level it often comes down to identifying specific local problems and planning solutions,
e q ~ worst problem bars producing most drunk drivers Teenage hangouts for drinking Most dangerous
times and locations for DUI - to locate sobriety checkpoints. Liquor stores selling to teens can be targeted by
decoy/sting operations, etc.
High school and middle school assembly and other programs of many kinds are implemented. Media events
of many kinds are held. MADD has good experience at the State and County level creating such coalitions,
and has publications about it.
There are good examples like Northern (and Southern) Nevada DUI Task Forces, and about a dozen or more
local ones in Arizona. Jack Champlin in our office is our injury control and public health specialist and he
helped create a DUI Coalition in Contra Costa County, in his previousjob. I'll copy him in on this response.
Another good contact for you to discuss community DUI task force or coalition activity would be Ms. Erin
Breen, Safe Community Partnership Director, with the Southern Nevada (Las Vegas) DUI Task Force. Her
phone number is (702) 89five-1780 and her a-mail address is erin@trc.unlv.edu.
A local (county) DUI Task Force: There are several publications NHTSA has that might be helpful on the
NHTSA website www.nhtsa.dot.gov. Look under Traffic Safety Materials, in the materials catalog under
Impaired Driving. Also look in the "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose" area. One is A Guide for Building a
Comprehensive Impaired Driving Campaign, a booklet I mailed you recently.
Good luck and I hope this helps some. On the media campaign issue, we've found that paid advertising,
carefully targeted, (like YDYDYL at 18-34 year old males) backed up by publicized, visible enforcement, like
sobriety checkpoints, does work. But you have to have the enforcement, not just the ads. General deterrence
theory is all based on "Increasing the perceived risk of (DUI) arrest, and swift and certain punishment."
Motor Vehicle Related Crash Fatality Reduction Group - 2D04 ~
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"How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn't see?"
Blowing in the Wind, Bob Dylan
Motor Vehicle Crash Reduction Group
North Hawaii Outcomes Project
Sharon H. Vitousek, M.D., Director
65-1229A Opelo Road, Hana Hou Cottage #6
Kamuela, Hawaii 96743
(808) 887-1945
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News Page 1 of 3
-~i~rb~u~l~e~ir~.~~vr~
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Isles buck trend -~vERT,SEME~rs_
in highway fatalities
Fewer people died on U.S. roads
in 2003, but isle numbers rose
Staff and news service reports
Fewer people were killed or injured on U.S. highways last
year, according to federal officials, but Hawaii was among
the states that saw highway fatalities climb from 2002.
Federal officials crediting an increase in seat belt use and a
decrease in drunk-driving accidents for the national drop
in highway fatalities.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said 42,643
people died in traffic crashes in 2003, down 362 from the
previous year. The drop comes despite more people doing
more driving in 2003, when the number of deaths per 100
million miles traveled fell to 1.48, the lowest level since
record-keeping began in 1966, according to the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
"America's roads and highways are safer than ever," said
Mineta.
Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., did not follow -''DVEaT~sEMErrrs-
the national trend, however.
httpa/starbulletin.com/2004/O8/11 /news/story5.htm1 8/11 /04
Honolulu Staz-Bulletin Hawaii News Page 2 of 3
Hawaii highway fatalities increased 12 percent to 133
from 119 in 2002, but state transportation officials said
that did not mean that the number of traffic accidents
increased as well.
"What happened last year was that we had quite a few
accidents where there were multiple fatalities," said
transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. "Half of them
were alcohol related and the other half were speed
related sometimes a combination of the two."
"What it comes down to is individual behavior we have
95 percent seat belt use and we're the first state to hit that
level, but it's the person behind the wheel that decides
whether to drive drunk or speed."
Nationally, the numbers also show that while fewer people
in vehicles and fewer pedestrians died, motorcycle deaths
rose by 12 percent last year, and are up 73 percent since
1997.
For all types of vehicles, the number of deaths per 100
million vehicle miles traveled, a standard measure of
highway safety, fell to an all-time low.
Highway officials were pleased that the number of motor
vehicle fatalities declined by 362 deaths, the equivalent of
one major plane crash, but they said that the broader
problem was still enormous.
"We will never refer to 42,643 people dying on our
nation's roadways as a victory," said Jeff Runge, the
administrator of the National Highway Safety
Administration, referring to the number of deaths in 2003.
"But we were bound and determined to reverse the trend,
and we have done so."
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone, the Associated Press
and the New York Times contributed to this report.
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http://stazbulletin.com/2004/08/ 11 /news/story5.htm1 8/11 /04