Traffic fatalities on Hawaii Island nearly doubled in 2024 over the previous year.
There were 29 official traffic fatalities islandwide last year compared to 15 in 2023, an increase of 93.3%.
There were actually 30 fatalities on Big Island roads in 2024, but one — 44-year-old Collins Kaholo of Volcano, a pedestrian killed April 25 on Volcano Highway and originally listed as a traffic fatality — was later changed to a suicide.
Six who died were pedestrians, five were motorcyclists, the final fatality of the year was a bicyclist — and in perhaps the most bizarre traffic death of the year, a 13-year-old Kailua-Kona boy was a passenger in the rollover crash of an all-terrain vehicle driven by an 8-year-old boy, who sustained only minor injuries.
Nine of the deaths occurred in Kona, eight in Hilo, five in Puna, four in Waikoloa and three on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway.
“The root cause of a lot of these collisions is impaired driving, is speeding, is distracted driving,” Hawaii Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz said. “If we look at the patterns and the locations, that’s what it is. It’s areas where people can go fast. And they go fast because they want to go fast, or they go fast because they’re impaired, and they think it’s a good idea.”
Hawaii County’s 29 official traffic deaths amount to 28.4% of the 102 fatalities statewide.
Traffic deaths statewide were up almost 10% from the 93 reported in 2023.
“Safety is not only about you as an individual driver, rider or pedestrian,” state Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said in a statement. “It is about making choices that could impact your life or the life of someone sharing the same road as you. We should all strive for a common goal of eliminating fatal crashes on our roads.”
“At the end of the day, it’s decision-making and personal responsibility,” added Moszkowicz. “If you look over the last five years, over 50% of our traffic fatalities have somehow involved drugs. And we’re not even talking about alcohol, although some of those were alcohol, as well. But over 50% have involved some sort of drugs. People are making bad choices. They’re driving while they’re impaired. They’re driving while they’re distracted. And anytime you’re operating a vehicle, even at the speed limit, it’s not safe if you’re impaired, and it’s not safe if you’re distracted.
“We can threaten increased enforcement, and that’s probably something that’s going to happen. But, ultimately, we can’t arrest our cite our way out of it. People are going to have to decide that the lives of their family members and the lives of their neighbors are more important than driving while impaired, or answering the phone or texting someone while driving.”
At least three Big Island drivers were charged with negligent homicide in connection with traffic fatalities.
Marvin Neth, then 31, of Pahoa was charged with first-degree negligent homicide for a single-vehicle collision March 22 near the 18-mile marker of Daniel K. Inouye Highway that killed 46-year-old Steven Jonathan of Hilo, a backseat passenger in Neth’s sport-utility vehicle.
He’s also charged with second-degree negligent injury for injuries sustained by his 63-year-old front-seat passenger, DUI for allegedly being under the influence of marijuana, reckless driving and driving without insurance.
According to court records, Neth — who is free on supervised release, a form of cashless bail — is scheduled to appear March 5 in Hilo Circuit Court for a change of plea and sentencing.
Sienna Tavares-Brown, then 25, of Pahoa was charged with first-degree negligent homicide for a hit-and-run crash on April 15 that killed a pedestrian, 57-year-old Eric Mabuni of Hilo, on East Kawili Street near Manono Street in Hilo.
Tavares-Brown also was charged with DUI — allegedly having a blood-alcohol content of at least 0.15%, about twice the legal threshold for intoxication — leaving the scene of the accident, reckless endangering and for not having child passenger restraints for her 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, who were in Tavares-Brown’s SUV.
Tavares-Brown pleaded not guilty to all charges and is scheduled for trial starting Monday in Hilo Circuit Court. She remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in lieu of $158,000 bail.
Garrett Aadom Duran, then 34, of Kailua-Kona pleaded guilty Nov. 22 in Kona Circuit Court to first-degree negligent homicide, leaving the scene of an accident and drunken driving for a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian, 38-year-old Christian Lipka of Kailua-Kona, July 22 on Queen Kaahumanu Highway near the Kaloko/Honokohau intersection in North Kona.
Duran, who is free on $106,100 bond, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 3 by Third Circuit Chief Judge Wendy DeWeese.
“Everyone of those deaths was preventable. I don’t like the word ‘accident,’” said Moszkowicz. “We try to take that word out of our vocabulary, because none of them are accidents. They all have causative events. People making bad decisions are the precursors of all these unfortunate results.”
The highest-profile traffic death of the year, however, was a 16-year-old junior at Hilo High School who was struck by an on-duty police officer while skateboarding and died three days later.
Police say Sammy Mwarey was on the roadway in a poorly-lit area of Kapiolani Street in Hilo between the YMCA and Hawaii Care Choices, not in a pedestrian crosswalk, wearing dark clothing on a rainy night when he was struck at about 10:24 p.m. on Jan. 5 by a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria blue-and-white cruiser by Officer Nicole Kanaka‘ole-Ioane, an 18-year veteran of the department.
An internal investigation by police found Kanaka‘ole-Ioane, who has returned to duty, had no alcohol or drugs in her system.
In addition, a traffic collision reconstruction done by an independent contractor found the officer wasn’t speeding or negligent in not seeing the teenager in time to keep from striking him with the vehicle, Moszkowicz told the Tribune-Herald in June.
According to Moszkowicz, Mwarey had a blood-alcohol content of 0.19%, almost 2 1/2 times the legal threshold for intoxication, plus cannabinoids in his system, an indication he had ingested marijuana or a cannabis concentrate sometime prior to the incident.
Hawaii County is requesting dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Mwarey’s family seeking monetary damages from the Hawaii Police Department and Kanaka‘ole-Ioane, who the claim alleges was negligent and/or inattentive while driving the police cruiser.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
