At issue in the state traffic accident disclosure dispute is mostly data for nonfatal accidents, which represent around 99 percent of the 10,000-plus crashes in Hawai'i in the past few years.

For fatal accidents, which typically number more than 100 annually, reams of data already are available from the federal and state governments.

The dispute over nonfatal data arose after the state Department of Transportation refused to turn over its accident database, stripped of the personal information, to The Advertiser for a story about dangerous locations. The department has cited concerns over lawsuits.

The newspaper appealed to the Office of Information Practices, which administers the state open records law.

OIP ruled that the information was public but that the newspaper, not the transportation agency, had to pay the estimated $20,000 for the software to compile the segregated information in electronic form. The Advertiser eventually got crash statistics from Honolulu police, who keep accident data that is not as complete as what the state compiles.

The Advertiser hasn't been the only newspaper unable to get crash data from DOT.

West Hawai'i Today has tried for years to get the number of accidents at a particularly dangerous spot on a North Kona highway. The department has refused, citing liability concerns.

"The state is not being accountable to the public," said Reed Flickinger, editor of the West Hawai'i paper.

Two Big Island physicians likewise have wanted to analyze data to determine why their island had higher accident rates than the rest of the state. But they say they've run into the same obstacles.

Gerald Donaldson, senior research director of Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety, a coalition of consumer, health, safety and insurance groups in Washington, D.C., said he couldn't believe the state was so stingy with its data.

"That's outrageous," Donaldson said. "I've never heard of a case this bad."

Reach Rob Perez at rperez@honoluluadvertiser.com.