Families who lost loved ones in crashes caused by drunken drivers joined in a rally against impaired driving Wednesday, amid rising numbers of traffic deaths associated with alcohol, drugs and speeding.

“It’s a crisis situation that needs to be addressed,” retired police traffic Lt. William Hankins said during the fourth annual Hannah Brown Memorial Impaired Driving Awareness campaign. “And if it’s not addressed, it’s going to get worse.”

As of Monday, 17 people had died in 16 vehicle crashes on Maui County roads this year, up from 15 crashes and deaths at the same time last year. Of the fatal crashes this year, 12 or 75 percent involved alcohol, compared with seven or 47 percent last year, according to police. Thirteen fatal crashes this year or 81 percent involved both drugs and alcohol for an increase from 12 last year. Nine crashes involved speed, up from eight crashes last year.

All of the 16 fatal crashes so far this year have involved speed, drugs or alcohol or a combination of the factors, compared with 12 crashes or 80 percent last year.

“How in the hell is that acceptable?” Hankins said. “This is what happens when you divert resources and your attention away from the impaired-driving problem.

“I’m not blaming anybody or any organization individually, but I’m telling you now we all failed. And it needs to change.”

Hankins, now a Maui advocate for the Hawaii Alcohol Policy Alliance, said the group will work with families to strengthen impaired-driving laws, including advocating to reduce the legal alcohol limit from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent.

“We intend to make a very, very powerful voice in the state Legislature this year to improve DUI laws,” he said. “That’s a huge goal that we have.”

With the involvement of the alliance, the rally was moved from its previous location at the Wailuku Police Station to the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers office in Wailuku.

The rally included the family of 19-year-old Hannah Brown, who was killed in a collision with a drunken driver going 90 mph the wrong way on Kuihelani Highway on June 23, 2019, as well as the families of Kaio Fukushima and Kahiau Hill. Both 16-year-old Fukushima and 17-year-old Hill were passengers in single-vehicle crashes — Fukushima on July 5, 2009, in Kula and Hill on May 30, 2021, in Waiehu.

The mothers of the three teenagers have become “the most powerful voice” in the fight against impaired driving in the county, Hankins said.

Rick Collins of the Hawaii Alcohol Policy Alliance said the statistics show “we don’t seem to be learning from these tragedies.”

“The fact that we have one of the highest rates for alcohol-impaired fatalities in the country is not something you want to be proud of,” he said. “The fact is that we can do more to reduce alcohol-impaired driving on our roads.”

He said one way would be to change the law to lower the legal driving limit for alcohol.

“As we remember Hannah, let us also resolve to do more as individuals and organizations to protect our community and to demand that lawmakers protect our communities as well” by passing a bill to lower the blood-alcohol limit, Collins said.

The event on the day before Thanksgiving marked the start of the Maui Police Department impaired driving campaign of increased checkpoints and patrols, said police traffic commander Lt. Kenneth Kihata.

“We here at MPD take a zero-tolerance stance to impaired driving,” he said. “If you decide to drive impaired, we will find you and you will be arrested.

“We must end these tragic senseless deaths caused by poor, selfish decisions occurring on our roadways.”

The county building was lit orange Wednesday night in honor of Hannah Brown and others lost to impaired driving, Mayor Michael Victorino said.

Along Maui roads, electronic billboards flashed the message “Remember Hannah Brown. 4Ever 19! Slow Down. Drive Sober.”

Following the rally, police traffic officers set up a DUI checkpoint on Kuihelani Highway in Kahului near the site of the collision that killed Hannah Brown.

After officers screened drivers, family members gave sober drivers Mothers Against Drunk Driving goody bags. Some contained donations, including gym memberships and merchandise, from sponsors Maui Powerhouse Gym and Bayada home health care.

At the rally before the checkpoint, family members talked about how they’ve been affected by loss.

Kaio’s father, Jerry Maniago, said the teenager didn’t get to meet his younger sister and brother.

“It’s time we’re missing,” Maniago said. “Time they’ll never get to spend with their big brother. Even though time heals, it doesn’t heal everything.”

Kahiau’s mother, Dane Sadang, remembered her son as “definitely a Maui boy, fishing, full on kanaka.”

“We miss him every day, but through his passing, we have learned so much,” she said.

She said she can’t explain how his loss has affected her.

“It’s something that hurts so deeply and you can never get it back,” she said.

Charlene Brown said her daughter, a 2017 Maui High School graduate, had started a career at an insurance company 20 days before she was killed. Two days before her death, she had bought the car she was killed in.

With her husband carrying Hannah’s remains in a backpack, the teenager has accompanied them to sign-wavings and other events to deliver the message against drinking and driving for the past three years, her mother said.

“This is not mine and my husband and my sons’ work or anything,” Charlene Brown said. “It’s her. This is Hannah continuing to be there for her community, continuing to fight for what is right. Her senior project was on drinking and driving. And that’s what killed her.”

On Tuesday, she said the family will celebrate what would have been Hannah’s 23rd birthday.

Although family members take her with them in the backpack, it’s not the same, Charlene Brown said.

“She’s not laughing with us. She’s not singing with us. She’s not having fun with us,” she said. “It’s painful to enjoy something knowing we’re missing a big chunk of our family. So think about that before you drink and drive. Think about a family you might kill. Think about yourself and your family. You may kill yourself and now your family is without you. It’s not worth it.”

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.