Police traffic commander Lt. William Hankins stands by an electronic sign showing the message “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed” on Honoapiilani Highway approaching North Kihei Road. The Maui News / LILA FUJIMOTO photo
KIHEI — Along with reminding people to wear masks during the pandemic, electronic roadside signs are displaying a new message to discourage drunken driving, which has been rising on Maui roads.
“Drive Hammered, Get Nailed” reads the message that was installed late last week on the electronic signs.
“We’re hoping it’s a message that will stick,” said Lt. William Hankins, commander of the police Traffic Section. “It’s tongue-in-cheek. The idea is to wake people up.”
He suggested the stronger message, replacing the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” slogan, when state Department of Transportation officials asked about making changes to the signs along state highways.
The call came at “just the right time,” Hankins said, following the Jan. 29 to 31 weekend when police DUI Task Force officers arrested 11 people for impaired driving, including two habitual DUI offenders.
The new “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed” message is displayed last week on an electronic sign at Honoapiilani Highway near North Kihei Road. MAUI POLICE DEPARTMENT photo
“It was disappointing,” Hankins said, to have so many impaired drivers arrested on a nonholiday weekend.
Police made 54 impaired driving arrests in January, nearly all of them by DUI Task Force officers, for an 18 percent increase over the same month last year, Hankins said. All 54 vehicles driven by those arrested were towed under a county law allowing for the towing after a driver is arrested for intoxicated driving.
“I am disappointed in the high number and increased number of impaired driving offenders in our community,” said DUI Task Force Sgt. Nick Krau. “But I am extremely proud of our DUI Task Force crew and our proactive impaired driving enforcement program for getting these dangerous and selfish drunk drivers off the roads.”
The arrests last month came after five people died in December in traffic crashes, three of them alcohol-related, Hankins said.
“We can’t have that,” he said. “We’ve got to do more.”
After coming up with the new sign message “off the top of my head,” Hankins said he was reminded that a youth held a similar sign at a sign-waving in memory of Hannah Brown, who was killed in a collision with a suspected drunken driver going the wrong way on Kuihelani Highway on June 23, 2019.
The Department of Transportation plans to keep the electronic signs, which are at locations including Honoapiilani and Hana highways, until at least the end of March because they also deliver reminders about state and county rules in the COVID-19 pandemic, Hankins said.
He said the same message against impaired driving may be making its way to electronic signboards on Oahu, after DOT public information staff learned about the changed message on Maui.
“They liked it so much, they’re going to run it on Oahu,” Hankins said. “It’s a little bit of outside-the-box thinking, trying to get people’s attention and always keep impaired driving at the forefront just to keep people safe.”
Krau, who heads the police traffic unit dedicated to impaired driving enforcement, backed the change.
“Lt. Hankins sent a strong message, literally, when he requested the ‘Drive Hammered, Get Nailed’ message on the electronic signboards in our county,” Krau said. “I agree with Lt. Hankins and I fully support his message.
“Impaired driving is a serious problem in Maui County and this serious problem requires a strong message and action.
“My job is to follow through on Lt. Hankins’ message. By further increasing our proactive saturation patrols and intoxication control checkpoints, we will locate and apprehend those who selfishly choose to drive hammered.”
The checkpoints and patrols were in full force over the Super Bowl weekend.
As of early Sunday morning, police records showed at least eight impaired driving arrests since Friday night, with enforcement continuing through the Super Bowl game.
Hankins said he wanted to add a second part to the new message saying, “MPD Will Find You.”
While that wasn’t included, those words have proven true, with officers on the fully staffed DUI Task Force making arrests throughout the island.
Last month, officers made four arrests for habitually driving under the influence of an intoxicant, doubling the number from the two habitual DUI arrests in January 2020, police said.
One driver arrested Jan. 29 for habitually driving under the influence was Frank Kane, 45, of Lahaina, who has been arrested for impaired driving 10 times dating to 2002, police said.
Kane has a lifetime revocation of his driver’s license, Hankins said.
He said test results showed Kane’s blood-alcohol level during his latest arrest was more than double the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Another habitual offender, Casler Keja, 27, of Kahului had a blood-alcohol level “well over” the legal limit when he was arrested Jan. 30, Hankins said.
“We’re still seeing the sky high number of habitual offenders out there,” he said. “Drinking hasn’t slowed down, and the drinking and driving hasn’t slowed down.
“They’re not stopping and neither are we. We have the resources out there now.”
Hankins noted that money generated from traffic fines goes to the state general fund, not the county.
“We don’t want the money, we just want people safe,” he said. “All we do is save lives. Every contact we make is a potential life saved.”
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
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