[ OUR OPINION ]

---

Combat drunken driving
from all directions

THE ISSUE Alcohol-related traffic fatalities dropped last year to 43 from the 2003 total of 72.

TRAFFIC deaths related to alcohol declined significantly in Hawaii last year, but the reasons are not clear. Mothers Against Drunk Driving suggests the decline reflects the success of a program expanding use of roadblocks to catch drunken drivers, but that did not begin until October. A combination of publicity, roadblocks and an increase in police patrolling of streets and highways can be credited for the improvement.

Nationally and in Hawaii, MADD says the best way to further reduce traffic fatalities is to set up more roadblocks -- sobriety checkpoints -- to catch intoxicated motorists. Ten states now bar them.

The state Department of Transportation, county police and MADD inaugurated a "52-12" program in October to spread sobriety checkpoints throughout the year. Previously, police had confined checkpoints to holiday periods.

"Sobriety checkpoints not only save lives but decrease property damage and reduce the risk of injury," says Connie Abram, the executive director of MADD-Hawaii. However, it is difficult to credit the three months that the 52-12 program was in effect for the reduction of alcohol-related deaths in Hawaii from 72 in 2003 to 43 last year. The 2002 total was 47; the yearly alcohol-related traffic death toll has fluctuated significantly through recent years.

The American Beverage Institute, a trade association of alcohol producers, distributors and retailers, questions the effectiveness of roadblocks and public-relations campaigns in lowering alcohol-related traffic deaths. "MADD's push for more of these ineffective, outdated measures represents a costly diversion away from what everyone, including MADD, has acknowledged is the source of today's problem -- repeat offenders and product abusers," says John Doyle, the institute's executive director.

Doyle points to a statement by Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that today's "very different population of drunk drivers" is comprised mainly of "those who have alcohol use disorders."

The beverage industry instead calls for "roving patrols" of police to roam highways in search of erratic driving by drunken drivers. Honolulu police engage in such activity, patrolling roadways in unmarked cars to look for drivers who are either impaired, racing or speeding.

The number of drunken-driving arrests is believed to have been about 3,000 last year, continuing an upward trend during the past five years. Doyle points to an NHTSA study showing that roving patrol program arrests are nearly triple those made in checkpoint programs.

Honolulu police Maj. Doug Miller says the Traffic Division "stepped up our enforcement, as well as our education efforts" following the high fatality figures in 2003. Also, the state Department of Transportation spent $200,000 to publicize the 52-12 program. All those measures, including the checkpoints, probably contributed to the decline in alcohol-related fatalities.