It’s been a deadly summer on Hawaii roadways so far.

Since Memorial Day on May 25, there have been at least a dozen fatalities, accounting for roughly 25% of the total, which stood at 48 as of Friday. At the same time last year, the number was at 69.

The period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is known nationally as the “100 Deadliest Days” for teen drivers. Due to inexperience, speed, distractions and drunken driving, experts says summer is when teens are 20% more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than the rest of the year, and Hawaii is no exception.

“While it’s encouraging to see fatalities lower than this time last year, every life lost on Hawaii’s roads is one too many,” said Makena Young, MADD Hawaii program director, in a statement. “The recent deaths of these young people are heartbreaking reminders that summer is an especially dangerous time to be on our roads.”

She added, “At MADD Hawaii, our mission is to end impaired driving, but we also know that safe driving requires responsible choices behind the wheel every time. Whether it’s speeding, distraction, impairment, or simply taking unnecessary risks, those decisions can have lifelong consequences for families and entire communities.”

Hawaii residents are still reeling from the death of a 16-year-old, identified as Kalena Abelmann of Hawaii Kai, who died after her car flew off of the Pali Highway last month.

Honolulu police said at about 6 a.m. on June 18, the teen was driving Kailua-bound on the Pali at a high rate of speed when she lost control after the tunnels, went airborne, and dropped about 50 feet into a ravine.

Firefighters found her in the brush below, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

In June, another teen died in a fiery crash on Daniel K. Inouye Highway, also known as Saddle Road. Hawaii island police identified the teen as Mackenzie Valentin, 17, of Hilo.

On June 4, police said Valentin was driving a Toyota 4Runner westbound on the highway when she lost control at a curve near mile marker 18. The car hydroplaned into the oncoming lane and collided with a Ford F-450 truck, then caught fire, with her trapped inside.

Valentin was taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, where she later died.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation afterwards declared a traffic emergency zone between mile posts 5.5 and 28 on the highway. Police said they would step up enforcement along the stretch, as it was the fifth fatality there.

Fatalities of every age

Hawaii’s traffic fatalities included a broad age range – from a 1-year-old boy hit by a car in a cul-de-sac in Hawaii Kai to a 93-year-old man who crashed after driving the wrong way up an H-1 freeway off-ramp.

At the start of the year, two tragedies involved elderly citizens struck by cars in marked crosswalks.

Stella T. Nakamura, 93, of Honolulu, died on Feb. 11 after being struck outside of Kuakini Medical Center in Liliha.

Just before 7 a.m., a motorist turning left from a driveway onto North Kuakini Street struck Nakamura, a retired registered nurse at Kuakini. She was in a marked crosswalk with a walk signal.

About two weeks later, King Leung Lau, 82, of Honolulu, was hit by a large SUV while in a marked crosswalk on Alexander Street in Punahou. Firefighters extricated her from beneath the vehicle, where she was pinned. She later died at a hospital.

The Kuakini neighborhood has had other pedestrian fatalities, including in 2012, when 88-year-old Martha Miura of Nuuanu was hit by a sedan while crossing Kuakini.

Donda Spiker, spokesperson for Kuakini Medical Center, said driver and pedestrian safety is a 24/7 concern, and that the center sends internal messages to staff about driving and walking carefully to and from campus.

“Kuakini Street has become a busy street due to the numerous health and medical facilities and schools in the neighborhood,” said Spiker in an email. “Although Kuakini Health System is on private property, many drivers drive through our property as a shortcut to get to and from School Street or Kuakini Street and the freeway onramp/off ramp.”

In 2023, the center requested an additional sign from the city at the corner of Kuakini and its Waikiki Service Road to remind drivers to stop before turning right onto the campus.

But the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services at the time informed her additional signs were not possible due to height and number limitations.

Taking action

After a record-setting high of 128 traffic fatalities last year, the state and police have doubled down on efforts to bring down those numbers.

The state Legislature this year passed bills updating the traffic codes on e-bikes, approving the use of technology to stop speeding, and installing pedestrian safety improvements near schools.

The “stop super speeders” bill, or Senate Bill 2023, allows courts to require anti-speeding technology for drivers convicted of excessive speeding and drag racing.

DOT, which supported the bill, said approximately one-third of all traffic fatalities in the state in recent years have involved speeding-related factors.

Senate Bill 3234 — introduced in honor of road victim 19-year-old Tehya Mahelona — appropriates $2 million toward pedestrian safety improvements near school properties. Mahelona died in October while walking to her early morning job in Nanakuli due to a chain-reaction crash caused by speeding.

The improvements would include all-way crosswalks, similar to the one in Waikiki, raised intersections, or both.

Key bills that would have helped protect vulnerable pedestrians and bicyclists, however, did not pass.

The goal of Senate Bill 2470, or the “pedestrian head start bill,” was to help prevent these types of tragedies, according to Malia Boksanski, transportation equity policy analyst at Hawaii Appleseed.

It would have authorized DOT to install two low-cost tools — leading pedestrian intervals and accessible pedestrian signals — at certain intersections.

These tools are recommended by the Federal Highway Administration and have proven effective in other states, according to Boksanski.

The leading pedestrian intervals give pedestrians a head start of 3 to 7 seconds before drivers get a green light. It makes pedestrians more visible to turning vehicles and helps those who are slower to start.

The FHWA recommends the use of LPIs for intersections with high-turning vehicle volumes and for an aging population.

The accessible pedestrian signals communicate “walk” and “don’t walk” signals through audible and vibrotactile cues, making them accessible to blind and low-vision pedestrians.

The Hawaii Association of the Blind supported the bill, saying its members have encountered very dangerous intersections despite traffic signals.

Hawaii Appleseed will advocate for the bill again next year.

Another Senate bill that did not pass would set up a task force to examine Finland’s tiered traffic fines system, which charges higher fines from those with higher incomes

The Honolulu Police Department, which in April launched a “Safer Roads Together” initiative, is now carrying out a ”Summer Safety Surge” with public service announcements and stepped-up enforcement of speeding and other violations in targeted areas across Oahu.

HPD in June reminded drivers that many recent crashes shared common, preventable factors, such as speeding, failure to yield – and impaired, distracted, and reckless driving.

“While traffic fatalities are down compared with this time last year, progress does not mean complacency,” said acting Deputy Chief Brandon Nakasato in the release. “Every decision behind the wheel matters, and by slowing down, eliminating distractions, and making responsible choices, we can help protect ourselves, our loved ones, and the most vulnerable members of our community.”

The number of pedestrian fatalities has dropped to 11 so far this year compared to 24 at the same time last year.

There have so far been no bicycle fatalities in the state this year, compared to five at the same time last year. There have, however, been collisions involving bicyclists that resulted in critical injuries.

The number of fatalities involving vehicle collisions was the exception, having increased to 27 this year compared to 20 at the same time last year.

The latest fatality occurred on the Fourth of July, when a woman, identified by the Medical Examiner as Savalivali Vivao, 28, of Honolulu, crashed into a concrete barrier on the H-1 freeway.

Police said Vivao was heading westbound when she crossed several lanes of traffic and for unknown reasons crashed into the barrier. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The new Honolulu Police Department chief said he’s launching a new initiative to send drones to potential crime scenes before police arrive.

Honolulu Police Chief David Lazar said the Department of Law Enforcement is helping the department get the required equipment and personnel.

Officers would deploy a drone to a location to let them know what to expect.

Officials said this could tell them whether a suspect is still there or if evidence is recoverable.

HPD Chief Lazar said, “Our officers need the tools that they need to do the work and to make their work efficient and to capture those that are involved in crime.”

Lazar says HPD will start using the drones in August throughout Honolulu.

The Honolulu Police Department has used drones in the past to combat against illegl fireworks on the island.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Halfway into the dry season for most of Hawaii, 11 Big Island sites experienced their wettest June on record, according to the National Weather Service.

Most prominent among those sites are: Hakalau, with 19.75 inches, seven times its usual June rainfall; Honokaa, with 19.55 inches, four times its June norm; Pahala, with 10.95 inches, five times its June average; and Kapapala Ranch, with 10.68 inches, almost seven times its normal June.

“I was struck by how wet it has been over the past couple of months,” wrote Kevin Kodama, retired National Weather Service Honolulu senior service hydrologist, in his Mauka Showers blog. “… So what produced all this rain? In a broad sense, we’ve had wetter than usual trade winds, including a few trade wind disturbances that boosted rainfall amounts along the windward slopes of the state.”

No windward Big Island spots reported below average rainfall for the month.

Hilo International Airport measured 11.39 inches, 56% above its normal June. Glenwood and Mountain View recorded 20.42 and 19.41 inches, respectively, while Pahoa reported 11.16 inches.

“Looking at Hilo airport’s data from June, the number of days with measurable rain, at least 0.01 inches, was right around normal — 25 days compared to a long-term average of 25.4 days — but the amount of rain per day was well above normal, 0.38 inches per day vs. a long-term average of 0.24 inches per day,” Kodama noted.

“The windward coast and upper slope areas, as well as much of the Puna and Ka‘u districts, fared the best in June, with well above average rainfall in most spots,” said Tina Stall, National Weather Service Honolulu hydrologist. “Much of the Kona and Kohala District coast and slopes, as well as the interior higher elevations, came in below average.”

Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Keahole, which averages less than an inch of rain in June, came in bone dry for the month at 0.04 inches, just 5% of its norm.

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park had less than a quarter-inch of rain, 14% of its June average.

Unlike most of the state, the Kona coffee belt has its wet season in the summer. Two of the four coffee belt gauges — Honaunau with 6.25 inches and Waiaha with 5.39 inches — experienced a normal June. Kealakekua and Kainaliu, with 3.75 inches and 3.6 inches, respectively, were both at 62% of normal June rainfall.

The year-to-date totals for the first half of 2026 were almost all at or above normal levels.

Unsurprisingly, the most robust rainfall totals for the year were recorded on the windward side of the island.

Glenwood, in the upper Puna rainforest, had the highest rainfall total among populated areas with 125.52 inches, almost 10 inches above average.

Mountain View reported 108.22 inches, 29% above its norm for the first six months. And Waiakea Experimental Station, in the foothills above Hilo, registered 108.22 inches — 30% more than its average.

In Ka‘u, the precipitation was equally striking. Pahala received 76.44 inches and Kapapala Ranch recorded 70.9 inches — in both cases, more than twice the normal rainfall for January through June.

Even on the drier leeward side, all but two gauges recorded average or above average rainfall for the year-to-date. Puuanahulu, in the North Kona hills, received 12.04 inches of rain in the first six months, 85% of its norm, and Puhe, just south of Kawaihae on the Kohala Coast, had just 3.7 inches, or 64% of its normal rainfall for the first half of the year.

Kona airport received 9.52 inches of rain for the year, exactly 4 inches more than its half-year average, and the four Kona coffee-belt gauges all have recorded significantly higher-than-average rainfall totals, with Honaunau leading the way at 43.07 inches, 69% above its norm.

No drought remains on the Big Island, although the U.S. Drought Monitor listed 22.69% of the island as abnormally dry — with the parched areas occurring on Daniel K. Inouye Highway and along a portion of the Kohala coastline.

The bountiful rainfall is likely to end at some point in the intermediate future. The Central Pacific Basin is currently experiencing El Nino conditions, a natural climate pattern in which warmer than normal ocean surface temperatures significantly alter the weather.

“The strengthening El Nino will probably be the primary driver of rainfall conditions through the rest of the dry season and into early next year,” Kodama said, adding a computer model posted July 8 “shows probabilities favoring above normal rainfall through the rest of the dry season.”

“The last time we had a very strong El Nino was in 2015,” he noted. “It helped produce the wettest dry season in 30 years and conditions remained fairly wet into mid-December before the El Nino dry pattern finally established itself. If the models are right, this year’s event could bring an earlier start to El Nino-related statewide drought conditions.

“Once established, these conditions will likely persist into the spring of 2027.”

Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.