The statistics are sobering. Nineteen deaths on O'ahu roadways in just the first three months of this year — that compared with 43 fatalities on O'ahu all of last year. If we keep on this path, we're poised to have the highest numbers in almost a decade.

Statewide, there have been 38 traffic fatalities so far this year, nine involving alcohol and 16 involving speeding. Seven of those killed were pedestrians.

So it's good to see law enforcement officials making their pleas to drivers: slow down, don't drink and drive.

Sounds like common sense.

But following the high-profile, high-speed, alcohol-related fatalities of late, that common-sense message of safety and responsible driving is not getting through.

And as Advertiser reporter Dan Nakaso reported, data show that in a five-week period ending April 4, police made 531 drunken-driving arrests and issued nearly 8,900 speeding citations.

It's an issue Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hawai'i founder Carol McNamee has been tracking for 25 years. McNamee focuses on combatting alcohol-related fatalities.

"In the last five years the alcohol-related fatality numbers have started going up again," McNamee said. "Personal responsibility plays a huge role. Human behavior is the biggest factor."

In 2008, there were 107 traffic fatalities, the lowest number in the past eight years. Analysts say that may be due in part to high gas prices, which resulted in folks driving less. Bus ridership and public transportation use, as with other cities during the period when gas prices were sky-high, also increased last year.

Whatever the case, the numbers so far this year are cause for concern for both motorists and pedestrians alike.

Through driving responsibly and encouraging friends and neighbors to do the same, this is one statistic we can work together, as a community, to turn around.