A newly released national traffic safety report indicates that pedestrian fatalities declined in Hawaii over the first six months of 2020 despite a trend across the country that saw significant increases in the rate of such deaths.

In addition, state Department of Transportation statistics show that the whole of 2020 recorded the second lowest number of pedestrian deaths in Hawaii over the past decade.

The Governors Highway Safety Association’s annual Spotlight on Highway Safety report examined state and national trends in 2020 pedestrian traffic deaths based on preliminary data from state highway safety offices in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The report, released last week, found that Hawaii was one of only 20 states to show a decline in pedestrian fatalities compared with the same period in 2019. What’s more, Hawaii was one of nine states projected to post a double- digit percentage reduction.

It was a different story across most of the mainland in the first half of 2020 at a time when the opening stages of the COVID-19 pandemic brought fewer people to roads and highways amid lockdowns and a rise in remote learning and working from home.

The report’s analysis found that from January through June 2020, nearly 3,000 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle crashes, about the same number who died during the same period in 2019.

But when factoring in a 16.5% reduction in vehicle miles traveled nationwide, the rate of drivers striking and killing pedestrians jumped to 2.2 deaths per billion miles traveled, a 20% increase over the 2019 rate.

The report suggests that speeding, distracted and impaired driving, and other dangerous driving behaviors increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was also true in Hawaii, according to police traffic statistics. So why the decline in pedestrian fatalities here?

Honolulu Police Department acting Capt. James Slayter said that following the record pedestrian fatality year of 2018 — when 44 pedestrians died statewide, 29 on Oahu alone — police joined hands with the state Department of Transportation and organizations such as Walk Wise Hawaii to launch a campaign to reduce the numbers.

Transportation officials, he said, made several changes to street designs to improve visibility for pedestrian crosswalks and to reduce vehicle speeds.

Slayter said the HPD Traffic Division launched its own project, handing out pamphlets and educating pedestrians at busy intersections and then conducting strategic enforcement at locations identified by crash data.

At Halloween, for example, an officer dressed up as the Grim Reaper and handed out candy and safety pamphlets, he said.

Both HPD and DOT worked to get the word out through social media messaging and other media, he said.

Slayter said he wasn’t surprised by the drop in pedestrian fatalities.

“We really beat the drum loud to get people’s attention,” he said. “We kind of felt the numbers would come down. We were hopeful, I can tell you that.”

Slayter said the stay-at-home orders and other measures reduced the number of vehicles and pedestrians using Oahu’s roadways.

“One might think that the lower number of both pedestrians and vehicles would reduce the risk of collisions. But we saw that with less traffic and open roads, vehicles tended to travel faster,” he said.

In fact, speeding citations increased by about 75% from 2019 to 2020 — from more than 24,000 to over 42,000.

Pedestrian deaths went from 44 in 2018, to 37 in 2019, to 21 in 202o, according to the Department of Transportation. The only smaller annual figure in the past decade was 15 in 2017.

As of Wednesday, there were six pedestrian fatalities in the state, all but one occurring on Oahu.

“Any time we see a reduction in pedestrian deaths it’s good news,” Keali‘i Lopez, AARP Hawai‘i state director, said in a statement.

A few years ago, one report described Hawaii as the third most dangerous state in the nation for older pedestrians.

“We hope the downward trend continues. But the long-term solution to reducing pedestrian deaths is continue to design or re-design streets and pedestrian crossings to be engineered safer, with more traffic calming measures, sidewalks and better lighting,” Lopez said.

Despite the improvement, the islands remain far from perfect for pedestrians. Hawaii in 2020 remained in the top half of states when it comes to pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 population, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association report.

The Aloha State was ranked No. 21 in the fatality rate among the states in this category, up from sixth highest in 2019.

Lopez said other traffic safety reports that use a 10-year average for comparison indicate that Hawaii is one of the most dangerous places for kupuna crossing the street.

He urged drivers to continue to be vigilant and watch for pedestrians, and for pedestrians to make sure they are watching for drivers to avoid the chance of collisions.

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Hawaii Pedestrian Fatalities

Year Traffic deaths Pedestrian deaths

2021 * 24 6

2020 86 21

2019 108 37

2018 117 44

2017 107 15

2016 120 32

*Through March 24

Source: Hawaii Department of Transportation