Thanksgiving Day was tragic for two Maui families. A fiery car crash killed two young Maui men racing in a new red Camaro from a Kihei beach party where they drank too much beer. Also killed were two women tourists whose rented Mustang was crushed by the Camaro when it crossed the medial strip.

These deaths were preventable, as were the 50 or more alcohol-caused traffic deaths in Hawaii in 1989. If the hosts of the Kihei party had served the beer responsibly or taken steps to prevent the youths from over indulging and then driving away, these four victims of drunken driving would be alive to enjoy Christmas.

Our community needs greater understanding of the responsibilities of party hosts, and we need help from our courts. At the present time, a careless party host can encourage an obviously drunken guest to drink more, watch him drive away and be immune from legal responsibility if that guest maims or kills and innocent victim, who would not be entitled to compensation from the careless party host.

Compensation from the insurance or assets of the drunken driver is often inadequate to pay for the victim’s medical or funeral bills and wage loss. The innocent victim and his family may face financial ruin, or become a ward of the state while the careless social host pays nothing. Even the police cannot help eradicate the problem because the irresponsible serving of alcoholic beverages by a social host to an adult is not a crime.

The social costs of drunken driving are astounding. According to the Federal Department of Transportation, drunken driving is the leading cause of death for teens. In 1987, drunken driving caused 23,632 fatalities and 534,000 injuries nationwide. That same year drunken driving cost 82 lives in Hawaii, almost 60 percent of oooour traffic fatalities. According to Allstate Insurance Co., drunken driving costs the U.S. $10 billion in losses each year. Stiffening criminal penalties for drunken driving has helped, but it is not enough.

Hawaii’s Supreme Court established dram shop liability in the case of Ono v. Applegate. That decision allowed an innocent victim to receive compensation from a bar or restaurant which irresponsibly served alcohol to a patron who then drove away and caused an accident. The time has now arrived to extend that law to apply to the irresponsible social host.

Nineteen states have established some form of social host liability. In many of these states it is the courts not the legislatures, which have taken the lead. Court decisions have recognized that when social host is established fewer drunken guests to drive away from parties.

Hawaii needs such a law to stiffen the backbone of party hosts. The law should require hosts to cautiously monitor and limit the amount of liquor their guests to drink, arrange rides home for guests too intoxicated to drive, have taxis available and ultimately offer a place for the drunken guest to sleep it off. Most drunken guests will feel grateful to hosts who saved them from a accident or a DUI arrest. If the host finds a drunken guest to ornery to accept their help, a call to 911 and a visit form the police should dissuade the guest from driving.

It is ludicrous to claim that a social host liability law would ruin the fun of parties. As the New Jersey Supreme Court eloquently stated in the landmark case of Kelly v. Gwinnell, "to have 'care free' social affairs where the host does not exercise prudence is to invite injury, suffering and death."

The argument that the legislature should establish social host liability and not the courts is unconvincing because in our society the legislature has traditionally deferred to the courts in the area of creating and interpreting personal injury and negligence law.

The argument that social host liability will "benefit mainly lawyers" is ill-advised. Many lawyers have volunteered hundreds of hours of free time and invested thousands of their own dollars to secure justice for innocent victims of drunken driving.

All segments of our community, including public officials and the media should support the effort of establishing social host liability as an important tool to end the terrible social costs of drunken driving.