A 14-year-old boy is in serious condition after crashing an e-motorcycle in Kalihi late Friday night, and the moped rider he collided with drove off without stopping to help or identify themselves, police said. The crash happened around 10:22 p.m. on Ahonui Street, leaving the unhelmeted teen ejected onto the roadway.
According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the boy was riding south on Ahonui Street when he veered into the northbound lane and struck a moped rider, according to the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division. He was not wearing a helmet, according to HPD, and was thrown from the e-motorcycle onto the road. Emergency medical services personnel treated him at the scene before he was taken to a hospital.
The moped operator he hit left the crash scene and did not provide aid or information, police said. That rider remains unidentified as the Honolulu Police Department continues its investigation. Police said speed appears to have contributed to the collision, and said drugs or alcohol were not factors.
A Pattern of Fleeing Drivers on Oahu Roads
Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 291C-12, a driver involved in a crash resulting in serious bodily injury who fails to stop, remain at the scene, and render assistance commits a Class B felony, subject to license revocation and mandatory trauma special fund surcharges, per FindLaw. It remains unknown whether the fleeing moped rider was a minor, and whether the e-motorcycle involved had any illegal modifications, both open questions in the ongoing investigation.
The crash unfolded in Kalihi, a neighborhood the Honolulu Police Department, EMS, and the Hawaii Department of Transportation specifically flagged this spring as a priority area for high-visibility enforcement targeting moped safety, speeding, and helmet compliance under the citywide Safer Roads, Together 2026 campaign, according to the Honolulu Police Department. Just weeks earlier, on July 15, Governor Josh Green signed Act 259 into law, which the Hawaii Department of Transportation says formally bans high-speed electric devices exceeding 750 watts or 28 mph from public roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks statewide.
New Law Raised Helmet Age, Added Parental Liability
Act 259 also raised Hawaii's mandatory helmet requirement from riders under 16 to all riders under 18 operating electric bicycles, scooters, and other micro-mobility devices on public rights-of-way. The law further bars anyone under 16 from operating Class 2 or Class 3 e-bikes without direct parental or guardian supervision, and allows traffic enforcement for violations by minors under 18 to be applied against parents or legal guardians, per the department's account. Separately, under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 291C-194, moped operators must be at least 15 with a valid license or instructional permit, and operators under 18 are required to wear helmets, according to information compiled at Hawaii Moped Laws.
Pediatric trauma data from Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women & Children showed e-bike injuries among Hawaii youth more than doubled between 2022 and 2023, becoming the single most common cause of pediatric trauma center admissions by mid-2024, with most injured teens not wearing helmets, according to Hawaiʻi Pacific Health. Oahu road fatalities reached 82 in 2025, with motorcycles and mopeds accounting for roughly a third of those deaths, and police citing speed and missing helmets as frequent contributing factors, according to reporting from Honolulu Civil Beat.
The Kalihi crash follows other recent Oahu incidents involving young riders on electric devices. Hoodline previously reported that a Waipahu e-bike crash left a 6-year-old with serious head trauma after neither rider wore a helmet, and last year a 14-year-old Campbell High student was killed riding an electric motorbike in Ewa Beach. Anyone with information about the Kalihi crash is asked to call the HPD Traffic Division at (808) 723-3413.
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