Hawaii car accident statistics (2020-2024)

Car accident deaths in Hawaii by year

Annual car accident deaths fell from 71 in 2020 to 68 in 2021, then rose to 96 in 2022. The count fell to 73 in 2023 before rising to 84 in 2024. Within this period, 2022 had the highest count and 2021 had the lowest. The 2024 count was 13 deaths higher than the 2020 count.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Hawaii's share of the national car accident death total was 0.2% in 2020 and 0.2% in 2021. It reached 0.3% in 2022, returned to 0.2% in 2023 and reached 0.3% in 2024. For 2020 through 2024, Hawaii accounted for 0.2% of the national total of 176,219 deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

2024 figures come from the FARS Annual Report File and can be revised when NHTSA publishes the final file.

Who died in Hawaii car accidents

People in cars, SUVs, pickups or vans accounted for 177 deaths, or 45.2% of car accident deaths in Hawaii from 2020 through 2024. This was the largest of the person categories in the table. People in other vehicles accounted for 74 deaths and 18.9%, the smallest category.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Nonoccupants (FARS person-type grouping) accounted for 141 deaths, or 36.0%. These categories describe the people who died in the selected passenger-vehicle-involved crashes. They do not limit the count to occupants of passenger vehicles, and they group deaths by crash location rather than residency.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Collision types and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Angle (side impact) accounted for 64 deaths; Head-on, 36; Rear-end, 24; and Sideswipe, 16. Not a collision with a motor vehicle in transport accounted for 252 deaths, or 64.3%. That row covers first harmful events such as striking a parked vehicle or fixed object, or a rollover. Vehicles in transport can be stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime accounted for 145 car accident deaths (37.0%) and nighttime for 246 (62.8%); time was unknown for 1 (0.3%). Urban classifications accounted for 336 deaths (85.7%), rural for 52 (13.3%), and unknown land use for 4 (1.0%).^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most car accident deaths

The county table lists Honolulu County with 206 car accident deaths from 2020 through 2024, followed by Hawaii County with 100, Maui County with 62 and Kauai County with 24. Honolulu County had the highest death count in the table. These counts assign each death to the county where the crash occurred.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The rates give a different ordering among the listed counties. Hawaii County had the highest average annual deaths per 100,000 residents at 9.7, followed by Maui County at 7.6 and Kauai County at 6.5. Honolulu County had the lowest rate among the listed counties at 4.1. Death counts and population-based rates are distinct measures; these rate rankings apply only to the listed counties.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Up to 15 counties with the most deaths in the period, largest first. Rates for counties with few deaths change sharply with each death.

How Hawaii compares with the national rate

Hawaii's rate was 5.4 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024, compared with the national rate of 10.5. The state rate was lower than the national rate. The corresponding car accident death counts were 392 for Hawaii and 176,219 for the United States.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Rates use the sum of annual Census Bureau population estimates for the period, rather than the separately displayed July 1, 2024 estimate of 1,434,952. They do not adjust for miles driven or visitors. The denominator expresses deaths relative to population, while the deaths remain grouped by crash location. Readers searching for a car accident lawyer should keep that location-based grouping in mind when reading these figures.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

About these figures

NHTSA's FARS is a census of fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. It includes crashes involving a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public when an occupant or nonoccupant dies within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county counts follow crash location, not where those killed lived.^[8][6][7]

Data for 2020 through 2023 are Final Files; 2024 uses the Annual Report File and may be revised. Rates divide deaths by summed annual Census Bureau estimates from Vintage 2025, then multiply by 100,000 to give average annual deaths per 100,000 residents. They do not adjust for miles driven or visitors. The separate July 1, 2024 population estimate is not the rate denominator.^[8][6][7]

See also

• FARS Annual Report File and Final File
• Car accident statistics for Honolulu County, Hawaii (2020-2024)