State legislative leaders from the House and Senate, galvanized by the recent crash in Kakaako that killed three pedestrians, gathered Thursday morning at the state Capitol to call for tougher laws to address a growing number of drunken and impaired drivers in Hawaii.

“A tragic event occurred a couple days ago, one that was completely avoidable, but like it, there are so many others that happen on a regular basis around the state,” said Rep. Chris Lee. “In 2017, 42 people were killed as a result of drunk driving, impaired driving, and that’s something that needs to come to an end.”

One of the three fatalities from the deadly crash, Dr. William Travis Lau, was Lee’s classmate from ‘Iolani School.

“Like me, everybody knows somebody who’s been impacted by these kinds of events from time to time,” he said. “(At) the Legislature, here, we’ve got a number of conversations going to figure out what we can do to prevent this from happening ever again. The bottom line is, we can act. These are avoidable and we want to take action.”

On Monday evening a Ford F-150 pickup truck operated by 27-year-old Alins Sumang was speeding on Ala Moana Boulevard before it plowed into six pedestrians on a concrete traffic island, killing three and crashing into another pickup truck at the intersection of Kamakee Street and Ala Moana Boulevard.

Police said Sumang was intoxicated at the time.

Legislators said they would push for stronger laws that target first-time and repeat DUI offenders, noting a growth in drug-impaired and alcohol-impaired drivers. New ideas from the community are also welcome, they said, including how to improve safety for pedestrians and a re-examination of crosswalk laws and traffic cameras.

Among the bills up for consideration this session are House Bill 753, which would strengthen the state’s ignition interlock program with more stringent requirements and offer courts the option of using a constant sobriety monitoring system.

Lee is introducing House Bill 703, which would prohibit anyone convicted of DUI from purchasing or publicly consuming alcohol for three years. That would add another layer of protection, according to Lee, and help keep offenders from making poor decisions before getting behind a wheel.

Sen. Karl Rhoads said DUI incidents are not accidents, but predictable events.

“When you have a situation like that where you think you’re in a safe place and you’re not, it just makes it doubly tragic,” said Rhoads, referring to the Kakaako crash. “They weren’t doing anything that they weren’t supposed to be doing, and they still got hit. I’m fully supportive of measures we’ll be looking at, and from my position as the Judiciary chair, we’ll be moving forward every good idea we have that will help prevent this in the future.”

Police Capt. Ben Moszkowicz of HPD’s Traffic Division agreed.

“These are not accidents,” he said. “There are causative factors. People make decisions. Those decisions lead to consequences, and sometimes those consequences are tragic, in the form of critical injuries and people dying. These are neighbors and friends and family members.”

On average there are about 100 to 200 drug-impaired DUI arrests and 4,000 alcohol-impaired DUI arrests annually in Honolulu, said Moszkowicz.

Arkie Koehl of MADD Hawaii noted that Hawaii remains in the “Drunk Driving Hall of Shame,” citing statistics from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2017 report. That year Hawaii tied Texas as one of the worst states in the nation, with alcohol-related traffic fatalities representing 39 percent of all traffic fatalities. The national average that year was 29 percent.

“What we have to do is remember the victims,” said Carol McNamee, who founded MADD Hawaii 35 years ago, “the victims of just the other day and all the victims of more than 35 years. Our tag line is ‘No more victims.’ Please, everybody in the community, remember that. You saw what it does to the people who were left behind. It’s horrible, and it’s always been horrible and it has got to come to a stop.”