A spike in pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities on Oʻahu pushed the state’s final road toll for 2025 to 129, more than a 20% increase over 2024 deaths and the highest since 2007. 

The first fatality of the year was a 21-year-old female motorcycle passenger wearing a helmet who was in a collision in Kaʻaʻawa, and the last was a 35-year-old man who was lying in the eastbound lane of the Nimitz Highway when he was struck by a vehicle.

While many of last year’s accidents remain under investigation, a process that can take up to a year, “more than 90% of the fatal crashes in 2025 can be attributed to behavior,” including cellphone use and speeding, Hawai‘i Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said in a statement released New Year’s Eve.

Oʻahu alone made up more than half of the traffic deaths, increasing from 51 in 2024 to 82 in 2025, with motorcycle and motor scooter fatalities alone accounting for about a third of the fatalities. 

Twelve victims were identified as homeless, five of them on Oʻahu where homeless deaths have increased year-over-year since 2014. 

The state’s 2025 road fatalities included:

• 40 motor vehicle occupants
• 39 motorcycle/motor scooter riders (31 motorcyclists including passengers, 8 motor scooter operators)
• 38 pedestrians
• 7 bicyclists (including 3 e-bikes)
• 5 other non-occupant fatalities 

Narratives available on the Honolulu Police Department website show that speed and the absence of helmets were factors in many of the two-wheel vehicle accidents.

For example, the 64th road fatality on Oʻahu last year occurred on Sept. 23 when a 44-year-old man lost control of his moped on North King Street and was ejected onto the street where he was struck by a motorist traveling in the opposite direction. The moped rider was not wearing a helmet.

There was some better news on some of the neighbor islands. The final data show Hawaiʻi County halved its motor vehicle toll from 16 in 2024 to nine while Kauaʻi’s road deaths stayed the same, with two motor vehicle deaths in each year. On Maui, however, nine people died, up from two.  

State transportation data show that while total fatalities have tracked up over the last two consecutive years — and 2025 is a near two-decade peak — the overall trend line for fatalities in Hawaiʻi has been declining since 2003.

Hawaiʻi Toll Ran Against National Trend

Hawaiʻi was among only six U.S. states that saw an increase in road deaths in 2025 compared to the year before, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It was the second consecutive year where fatalities in Hawaiʻi increased while the rate of deaths nationwide declined, the NHTSA data also show.

The NHTSA compares road fatality rates across the nation using an indicator known as Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) –– a metric that accounts for variations in population and regions.

Hawaiʻi’s road fatality rate per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) rose from 0.93 at the end of 2024 to 1.27 by the end of September 2025. Hawaiʻi had the highest increase in its VMT rate, followed by Wyoming and Idaho.

The District of Columbia showed the largest decrease.

Nationwide, the VMT decreased from 1.24 at the end of 2024 to 1.18 at the end of September 2025. 

Because so many of the state’s crashes appeared to be avoidable, county police and sheriffs from the state Department of Law Enforcement “will be increasing traffic patrols to identify speeders and people driving under the influence”, DLE director Mike Lambert said in the HDOT release.

State DOT did not respond to a request Friday for comment on the 2025 data.

Serious Injuries Declined

Use of mobile devices, driving while impaired, speeding and a failure to wear restraints were all behaviors that Hawaiʻi drivers acknowledged in responses to the Department of Transportation’s most recent behavioral survey, published in October and covering the road toll from January to September. 

The DOT survey identified some trends across the counties, including that Honolulu had the highest levels of distracted driving and speeding, while Hawaiʻi County had higher rates of Driving Under the Influence.

Maui County has a high number of pickups and other trucks on the road and those are more likely to injure pedestrians in a crash in the U.S., the University of Hawaiʻi’s Economic Research Organization found. Kauaʻi County had the lowest levels of risky behavior. 

The details of some of the 2025 accidents also show motorists and pedestrians tragically caught in random circumstances, such as the 25-year-old pedestrian who died in Kapolei after being struck by a parked vehicle that was rear-ended by another.

Walking in a marked crosswalk with the signal was no guarantee of safety for pedestrians either, the data show, and the HDOT behavior survey found that fewer than one in five pedestrians deliberately wear reflective clothing at night, exacerbating the risk.

On the injuries front, last year was an improvement in Hawaiʻi, with about a 10% decrease in serious road injuries, from 579 to 529, below the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation’s target for the year of 555.

“Data Dive” is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.