HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The Hawaiʻi Department of Education, DTRIC Insurance and Par Hawaii are working together to reverse troubling traffic trends through a safe-driving program for high school teens and parents called Operation Driver Excellence, which took place on April 5 at Waipahu High School. According to the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, a total of 102 people lost their lives from traffic incidents, which climbed up from 93 deaths in 2023. The first quarter of 2025 has also been deadlier compared to the first quarter of 2024, with the former seeing 35 deaths compared to the latter's 28 deaths. Former Punahou School dean celebrates 100 years of youth In two days there have been two serious or critical vehicle incidents on Oahu, with a hit-and-run in Pearl City and a collision in Waialae. The Pearl City incident occurred on April 4 at approximately 12:30 a.m. a 51-year-old male pedestrian was in the westbound lanes of Kamehameha Highway when he was struck by an unknown driver who left the scene without stopping. The pedestrian was transported to the hospital in serious condition. In Waialae at around 8:30 a.m. on April 5, a 77-year-old male driver was traveling westbound on the H-1 Freeway with a 71-year-old passenger when the driver suddenly veered off the roadway and struck the concrete barrier. The driver was taken to the hospital in critical condition and the passenger was hospitalized in good condition. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Officials hope to deter incidents such as these by holding events like Operation Driver Excellence, providing the community with opportunities to learn safe-driving techniques while navigating driving courses designed by HDOE. HDOE Superintendent Keith Hayashi says that courses like these are paramount in ensuring driver safety, especially when parents participate in the event. "Our parents are the ones that our students watch, when our parents are driving," Hayashi said. "So we want to be sure that as parents, we are great role models for our children and for student drivers." DCCA: A new scam could be walking directly to your door Alongside the driving course, the school's cafeteria featured a traffic safety fair, with over 20 presenters offering traffic safety equipment and advice. There were two keynote speakers: Kerrie Marne and Matthew Uhles from TyREDD, an organization that raises awareness about the dangers of driving while sleep deprived. Marne lost her teen son due o sleep deprivation and Uhles is a sleep expert from the Clayton Sleep Institute, providing insight into deprivation and remedies for it. Find more Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai news here "To stop our roadway fatalities, we need responsible drivers who prioritize the safety of everyone in and around their vehicles, especially the most vulnerable," said Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen. "Learning safe-driving techniques and practicing safe behavior that includes obeying traffic laws and being aware of what's going on around them while on the road is critical to starting young drivers on the right path." ...read more read less