Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0066.028 2004-2006 oJNty Oi N4W Harry Kim " W~' Lawrence K. Mahuna Alnror y;~ Po(ice Chief e; ,e-•~r Harry S. Kubojiri ~>E as~n~Yt Ueputt Pohce Chief County of Hawaii POLICE DEPARTMENT 349 Kapiolani Street • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-3998 November 5, 2005 (sos>9ss-33n Faxtsos~9c~-sae9 TO ~ ~ STACY K. ,COUNCIL CHAIR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS ~t FROM E K. MAHUNA, POLICE CHIEF SUBJECT FINAL REPORT Name of Grant Program: HI Community Based Traffic Coordinator State Department of Transportation Public Federal or State Grantor: Affairs Office-Safe Community Program County Grantee Department/Agency. County Police Department Grant No : 163-SA05-07(01-H-01) Amount of Grant: $52,000.00 Amount of County Match: None County Revenue & Expenditures Acct 010.201.5216.17: 3303.62 Grant Period: October 1, 2004-September 30, 2005 Goals: See attached Objectives: See attached Outcomes: See attached Comm, No. ~o_ ~0.2_ g Ref. To; Ref. :~at~l ~ ~QJ SAFE COMMUNITY HIGH WAY SAPE'TY PROGRAM QUAR"TERLY REPORT PROJECT TI~TLE:HCPD HI COMMUNITY BASED TRAFFIC COORDINATOR 163-SA05-07 (OI-H-O1) Priority Area: f Area: Alcohol Countermeasures The goal of this program is to reduce the number of alcohol, speed and seatbelt non-use related traffic fatalities and injuries by providing a community based coordinator to plan and coordinate activities and he a liaison between state, county and community agencies and organizations. I . Facilitate an active impaired driving prevention county task force as recommended by NHTSA in partnership with community advocates like MADD. 2. Collaborate with government agencies, especially the Dept. of Education, to stage the Shattered Dreams program and other educational programs such as Save Face Buckle Up and including seat belt and impaired driving training as part of the Health curriculum. 3. Liaison between police, community, prmeeutors and judiciary on impaired driving and courts. 4. Research grant opportunities for impaired driving programs and for ongoing support of an impaired driving tasl: force and prevention programs. Evaluate and improvr the Intoxilyzer (Breath testing device) program. 6. Conduct an in-depth review of the ADLRO procedures to see if they can be improved to increase conviction rates. GRAh~T PERIOD KE:SUI.TS: (FINAL REPORT) • The Impaired Driving'I~ask force has been formed on the Big Island and meetings are being held on an Island wide bans using NH'TSA standards. • The "Traffic Coordinator has formed a partnership with the Dept. of Education to assist in the Shattered Dreams Proiect. 'The project was completed in April of ?005, at Pahoa High School and is being used ~o educate the Sig Island community. The coordinator has also formed partnerships with MADD and the DOH. • Through the North Hawaii Outcomes Project. meetings were conducted with Judiciary Staff, Prosecutors and the Medical community on strategics to improve conviction rates and gathering evide~ice. • The 'T'raffic Coordinator has researched and made several recommendations in the area of raising fiords to be used for educational and media purposes that stress prevention and awareness. • 'The Traffic Coordinator has been familiarized with ADLRO and has sat in during proceedings. Recommendations have been made by the Coordinator relative to police reports and blood evidence. Five of the six strategies have been met during this period despite the change in Traffic Coordinators and the period during which the position was left unfilled. The Shattered Dreams Project on the Big Island was a big success, receiving lots of media attention as well as the formation of the Impaired Driving Task Force which has received endorsements from Mayor Kim, Chief Mahuna, and the Hawaii County Council. August 29, ?005 TO LAWRI?NCIi K. MAHUNA, POLICE CHIEF VIA PROPE;1j~HANNELS FROM DR VERIATO, SERGEANT, TRAFFIC SERVICES SUI3JEC"C :IMPAIRED DRIVING "CASK FORCE UPDATE This memorandum is to update you on the recent progress of the County's Impaired Driving Task force, formed by .faqueline Murai, our Traffic Coordinator. Attached are minutes of she June Meeting and some of the goals and objectives that the "Cask Force will be addressing in the coming months. At the recommendation of Corporation Counsel, Ivan Torigoe, the 'Cask Force will be allowed to proceed as un exlention or sub-committee of the Mayor's Hawaii County Safety Council This was decided upon because [lawaii County already has many traffic committees and groups, mtmy of which ov.-rlap and basically focus on the same issues ti~om different parts of the island. 'The Impaired Driving Task Force will only focus on alcohol or drug related impaired driving for the time being. On August 15, 2005, .iad:ie Murai, Jan Yokoyama and I met with Mayor Kim and Dixie Kaetsu to inform them that die Task Force has been formed, and to introduce them to Murai. It was initially at the Mayor's request that something be done about ow' high rate of fatalities after he received recommendations that an Impaired Driving 'Cask Force be fbnned by North Hawaii Outcomes Project and NHTSA. It was reported to the mayor that the fatality rate on the [3ig Island was two to three times higher than all other counties in the state, per capita. Mayor Kim asked us not to overlook any small details and to be innovative with our strategics. He committed his support to the Impaired Driving Task Force and the Traffic Coordinator. Ms. Murai has been doing an outstanding juu of bringing the right people together on this issue and has brought a fresh approach to the Task Force. SUB.IECT: IMPAIRED DRIVING TASK FORCF, Pf1G E Because Murai's position is grant-funded, several benchmarks had to be met by September 30. ?005. So far, we have been able to meet all of them such as the forming of the Impaired Driving bask Force, developing strategies, and promoting and implementing a Shattered Dreams Project on the Big Lsland. We could not meet the Intoxilyzer Supervisor benchmark because it was decided after Cheril Miller Icft, that it was a police function and not relevant to this community based position. Funding for the "traffic Coordinator has been granted again this coming year through the DOT and we are hoping that the Police Department. through the County will assume the permanent position in riv~~ }ears. I~he'I~ask Force will continue to meet on a :~agular basis until clear strategies arc formed. Then the meetings will be quarterly. There is no doubt that the substance abuse problem on the Big Island is great It appears to be extending itself to our roadways and it is killing people. The Impaired Driving Task Force is committed to bring everyone in the community together to work on this problem, and ultimately bring our impaired Natality rate down. This memorandum is being submitted for your infortnation. /attachments ~ea~in~ ~ur ~s~anc~ April 28-2y, 2005 Pahoa High School, community leaders and organizers performed the "Shattered Dreams" mock crash on April 28th and 29th. "Unique in its design and powerful in its impact, "Shattered Dreams" is an educational experience that reminds us all of the dangers associated with drinking and driving. It reminds us that too rclany young lives have already been lost and countless others severely ircipaired because of the tragic consequence of underage drinking and drinking combined with driving". These images may be disturbing for some, although they are not real. (Story courtesy of Pulama I Na_O' Dlo 0 Hawai' Search i 4 . , ~ 'ely i t ~ 1 a i6XlI[9 - .a _ ~ ~ krj; Ma,~ r I t T ~ m,. ~ r;. ~ ~ ~ ~ ro•~i This information exchange is being provided as a public service. The County of Hawaii strives to keep this material accurate and up-to~da[e. The viewer u cautioned to check with the appropriate County department or agency responsible for maintaining the information [o validate its accuracy. SITE MAP' Site Disclaimer -Privacy v Copyright 2003-2004, County of Hawaii Website Desgned and Maintained by e_WOrld Fair s On April 38th and 29th, 300S,the Shattered Drealro mock crash event was held at Pahoa High School. The "Shattered Dreams" program involved the dramatization of an alcohol-related accident complete with police and L'MS response, emergency room treatment at the Pahoa Buy Clinic, family notifications and the arrest and booking of the drives Throughout the day the other elements unfolded. "I~o give students a better understanding of the numher of DW'I-related deaths, a studmit dressed as the "Grim Reaper" appeared periodical ~ throughout the school day to select a new victim, to represent the fact that in 3000 every 30 minutes someone was injured or killed as the result of drunk driving. The victims were taken out of class, made-up in white faces and dressed in black t-shirts to symbolize death. and then rean~ned to their classrooms to continue their day. By the end of the day, every student had one or more "dead" classmates present in the classroom with them, and on this note the school day ends. fhc next morning awrap-up assembly was held t_~ahlring those who played roles in the previous day's drama, including the "crush" victims. the drunk driver, their parents, and participating law enforcement and medical personnel. Impact statements from community members whose lives have heen affected b? teenage alcohol use and drunk driving brought closure to the program and reinforced its deal message for the teenage audience Don't drink until you are 21, and never drink and drive. (http:!hv~~~~.tabcstatc.tx.us/educa/shatdreams.htm) Click any image to see the slide show ti t makeup.JPG gettingready.JPG pahoapolice.JPG i ° P police.JPG bayclinicteam.JPG soundteam.JPG 4N y V"& mockcrash.JPG brokewindow.JPC bustedcar.JPG c~. ax, is ~g stagingvictim,JPG w onlookers.JPC rescuechopper.JPG firedept.JPG teambuilding.JPC retrea[.JPG humanpyramid2.JPG pyramidrace.JPC speaker.JPG allensalaveda.JPC rooftopcamera.JPG carcrash.JPG tip;: i k` actingvictim.JPC gatheredcrowd.JPG humanpyramid.JPC humanpyramidl.JPG Impaired Driving Task Force Meeting Minutes June 27, 2005 Members Present: Ivan Torigoe, Corporation Counsel; Lil Beaufrere, Solutions; Ronald Thiel, Dept. of Public Works, Traffic Division; Tom Brown, Mass Transit; Stanley Tamura, State Highways Division; Mitch Roth. Prosecuting Attorney's Office; Bruce McClure, Dept. of Public Works; Mike Price, S. Kohala Traffic Safety Council; Makani Stevens, N. Hawaii Outcomes Project; Jan Yakoyama, State Dept. of Heath; Sgt. Dexter Veriato, Hawaii County Police Dept.; Jon Olson, Puna Traffic Safety Council; Iris McGuire, Keaau High School; Jackie Murai, traffic safety coordinator. The mayor was unable to attend the meeting, therefore, :igt. Dexter Veriato welcomed the attendees to the meeting at 9:10 a.m. Jan Yokoyama gave the committee some background information regarding the formation of this task force. The mayor was made aware of the traffic crash and fatality statistics compiled by the N. Hawaii Outcomes project and discovered that the majority of Hawaii county's fatalities involve drivers under the influence of intoxicants. Our fatality rate when adjusted per capita is three times higher than Oahu and two times higher than Maui and Kauai counties. Therefore, a proposal was submitted to the State Hawaii Traffic Safety Council and through the efforts of our 3 Big Island members who are members of the state highway council, Lil Beaufrere, John Kaizuka (State Dept. of Health) and Mitch Roth, the proposal received a lot of support. The 3-year grant proposed a hiring of a traffic safety coordinator to establish this impaired driving task force. The grant was approved and assigned to the Mayor and police department to oversee this task force. The duties of the task force are to develop the strategies as recommended in NHTSA's "Impaired Driving Prevention Toolkit" develop and implement strategies as proposed and evaluate their effectiveness in reducing impaired driving statistics. Lil Beaufrere proposed that the meetings be held on various locations on the island to provide wide coverage sand more opportunity for others to participate in the task force. Through her experience with community groups, she felt there needs to be more communication between the community groups and the mayor's office and suggested more e-mailing to improve communication. Prosecutor's Office "Shattered Dreams" DVD was shown to the members by Mitch Roth. This dramatization of a drunk driving crash a>ing Pahoa High School students, county and state agencies was funded through a federal grant and cost $30,000 to produce. A lot of the work involved coordination between agencies, schools, parents and support of the cormunity to produce this program. Since this was a pilot project, Mitch said they are thinking of involving more parents & would like to involve substance abuse treatment agencies in this project. The DVD that was shown to the group is not a final version---more editing needs to be done on the DVD before its release to the schools island-wide. Impaired Driving Task Force Minutes- 6/27/05 p. 2 The viewing of the DVD production generated a lot of discussion on safety issues for review and consideration for future task force meetings: • No passing zones • Speeding • Focus on young drivers using better role models-driver education is not enough • Look at more non-enforcement measures to improve traffic safety • More SADD chapters need to be active- Pahoa High school has recently started a chapter after the "Shattere~. Dreams" project • Initiate more programs like "Shattered Dreams" • Defensive Driving courses for violators ----some states offer the course as an alternative to reduce their traffic violator points • Focus on 3 E's of traffic safety: engineering, education, enforcement to address the problems • Drowsy driving is also a national safety concern, MSNBC broadcast a special on this subject this past week. S. Kohala Traffic Safety Council Mike Price stated that recommendations from his safety group included creating more pull- off areas for check points, focusing on younger drivers who often travel with peer groups and getting parents involved. Involve parent groups in this task force such as "Compassionate Friends" a support group for parents who have lost children- many don't realize the after-effects of losing a child such as the negative impact on siblings marriages, etc. It was also suggested to have future meetings after school tc make it easier for more parents and community members to attend. Mitch Roth also suggested that schools be exposed to other real-life stories such as Jacqui Saburido because he's found that to be effective when speaking to students. Jacqui Saburido is from Venezuela and was attending a Texas University when she was struck by a drunk driver and burned alive as a passenger in the vehicle. She survived the crash but was burned beyond recognition and she will be on a life-long rehabilitation plan. Her story was shared on the "Oprah" show and the drunk driver who hit her and now serving jail time, was also interviewed on the s..ow. There was another episode shown on "Oprah" involving a man who ended up crashing and killing his own mother. It was suggested that these real-life stories be shared with students and the public to increase impaired driving awareness. Impaired Driving Task force minutes- 6127/05 p. 3 Mass Transit Tom Brown reported that his division is working on improving access and providing more services to the public. Bus routes are running later at night. They have initiated more access to in Kau especially during after school hours and adding more routes to North Kohala. The public is being offered more alternatives; some bars offer their customers free taxi coupons to avoid driving home impaired. Substance Abuse Treatment Programs There was discussion on the effectiveness of treatment programs. A suggestion was made to have representation from the substance abuse agencies included on the task force. It was also recommended that request be made for statistics on the success rate of clients from the Judiciary's drug court. Also, another question raised on the recidivism rate for DUI offenders and if this information can be retrieved from the court records. Based on informal survey of offenders referred to the Judiciary's Hilo Driver education office, Jackie reported that approximately 25°fo of referrals are repeat offenders. County Dept. of Public Works Bruce McClure said his department has been listening to community concerns and working with the state highways division to improve roadways however, he believes there is a need to focus on driver error to improve highway safety on this island. Police Dept. Sgt. Veriato explained that this year's statewide enforcement campaign involved setting up checkpoints every weekend; and he was pleased to report that Hawaii County numbered the highest total number of checkpoints.(76) from January -June 15, 2005. Next year's enforcement campaign will target speeders. Hawaii county statistics on impaired drivers were presented to the task force which revealed that of a total of 41 fatalities in 2004, 21 fatalities were DUI related, however, 7 involved alcohol only, 9 involved drugs only and 5 involved both alcohol and drugs. The drugs involved in these fatalities were marijuana, methamphetamine, prescription medicrtion and one case involving cocaine. In 2005, to date, we have had 16 fatalities, 10 were DUI related. 2 fatalities involved alcohol, 3 were drugs (3 marijuana, 2 prescription and one case with various drugs) and 3 fatalities involved hoth alcohol and drugs. Since many of our fatalities involve drugs, this may be another area which the task force may want to address. State Highways Stan Tamura stated that the highway engineers do not take into consideration "impaired drivers" as criteria for designing highways. However, they have installed more guardrails e.g. Hawaiian Ocean View Estates and Highway 190 on Mamalahoa Hwy., added striping and rumble strips to address community's concerns. They've also done spot improvements on the shoulders, and have worked on adding pullout areas on Highway 190. Impaired Driving Task Force minutes -6/27/05 p. 4 Puna Traffic Safety Council Jon Olson believes traffic calming devices such as roundabouts are the solution to the speeding problem, especially on the route between Shower Drive to Pahoa. This suggestion as been discussed with the state highways but there hasn't been much progress made in this direction. MADD Currently there is no presence of this organization on the Big Island. After discussion it was concluded that community interest would be critical in determining whether the a MADD chapter would be established on this island. N. Hawaii Outcomes Project Makani Stevens brought posters with the map of the Big Island indicating the locations of traffic fatalities that occurred between 1996-2004. Task force members were invited to request orders of the poster, which will be also be distributed to the driver education programs, public schools, and the community. There was discussion of how this task force should be organized and whether it should be an independent entity or function as a subcommittee of the Hawaii County Highway Safety Council, subject to the sunshine law. Ivan Torigoe will advise on the different options and report to the traffic safety coordinator. Meeting ended at 11 OS a.m. Next Meeting To be determined after receiving advisement of our organizational status from the corporation counsel. Thanks I think this is great you made it real I like it allot Thank you for your efforts on this Sharon From: Patsy Bird [mailto:tutumanu@verizon.net] Sent: Thursday, September 2Z, 2005 9:31 AM To: jhenricks@co.hawaii.hi.us; vitousek@nhop.org Subject: Just me Tutu Nice to have met both of you today. There was much for me to think about, but more that I didn't understand. However, the following is my first draft of my tutu article for publication. I write like I talk. I guess I'm just forwarding to you to see if I'm on the same page as most of you. I look at things very differently than most, but that's because I'm old and worn out and am tired of inventing the wheel. Please make any comments as possible. When you're young nothing fazes you at all. Not until you're away from home or some familiar residents where others take on the responsibility to worry about you and everybody else too. These places could be college, a local job, office, anywhere you hang out and care less about what's happening next. You qo home and late in the night a telephone call screams through the dark and it's the hospital informing you that your mother and father was in a car accident and you need to come down to the hospital immediately. They haven't said what you could be expecting, however, as you deX'~art the house, the policemen are at your front door and they are prepared to give you the news that your mother and father are dead. You don't know where you're at and you can't believe what was just told you. Your life immediately comes to a screeching halt and you've go* no one to turn to except your kid sister and brother in bed. Mom and dad went out to a luau of your aunties brother-in-laws cousin. So you really don't know anything. The shock is unbearable. You decide to call your girlfriends house because you need tremendous support and you can count on her. Few weeks have passed and you find out that there really wasn't anything of value within the family... no will no legacy no money. You're left with nothing. And you've got the kids to worry about. But most of all you found out that your parents were on the way home to their safe haven, and a bunch of kids that you know in the neighborhood ran a stop sign because they were partying too in the car with alcohol and pakalolo and were having a good time. Your parents had only one beer apiece. The kids alcohol level and pakalolo intake was beyon~. control. How often does this happen on our highways? Too often. Maybe the scenario doesn't even have to include anyone else in an accident. You alone are driving and you're under the influence of something (and tutu cares less about what that something is). You're being stupid, careless, uncaring and showing off to your friends that causes an accident with those in your car, along with yourself. Goodie, you didn't hurt any other person driving because you hurt only those in your vehicle. You decided to pass all the cars in front of you, around a curve and then lost your nerve and made a wrong decision. However, you've only hurt those in your car. You've killed two friends and maimed for life another one. You have survived, but you've changed the life of so many. The recent adage of You Drink, You Drive, You Lose is a great one liner. So I wanted to put out some kind of scenario to get you thinking. But all of the above is the results of not thinking. There is a group of professionals, i.e., they get paid for figuring out how to eliminate these kinds of accidents and happenings among our people. Several two-hour meetings have been programmed and will continue to meet whereby a special Impaired Driving Task Force has been mandated to come up with prevention and motor vehicle crash/fatality reduction recommendations. In tutu's words it's a group of very caring individuals who want to identify, alleviate, help prevent these tragic incidents. So how can we help? First off, publicity, publicity, and more publicity. Saturate and educate the schocls on driver education with true films and true people who have faced these problems. There can never be enough training and awareness to calm down the terrible deaths along our highways on the Big Island. It's time to get serious. YOU DRINK, YOU DRIVE, YOU LOSE. One of the more current moves that this task force is planning to do is to include bar owners by requesting that they provide transportation home for those enabled to drive. Maybe if they call their family at night to pick them up at the bars, this may add another kind of problem - like why should I pick him up, who cares, let him drown in all that drink, he doesn't need to come home. Tons of nasty comments can be heard. However, this task force is trying to do something about this terrible problem on our Big Island. It would appear '.hat bar owners would want to participate in order to have people return to their bars. This is not asking much, just a little kokua for safety reasons. Just to show you how involved I wanted to be, I introduced comments like "where are all those affected by these accidents -the surviving families, etc I was informed how insensitive this could be because of the family still living within their tragedy and probably could be illegal to ask them for their assistance. Tutu says "crap" to all of this. If you want to attack a problem, and this is a problem guys, yodve got to get on the defense side of the situation. You'ce got to grow ap and place fault where it belongs - in the hands of those who are cureless, breaking she law, showing offtheir friends. stupid and uncaring-YOU DRINK - YOU DRIVE-YOU LOSC!