A 57-year-old woman was left in serious condition Friday after a driver struck her on Farrington Highway near Waianae Valley Road and kept going, according to police. The woman was walking in the road outside a marked crosswalk when she was hit, and Honolulu Emergency Medical Services personnel rushed her to a hospital.
The crash happened Friday as the motorist was driving west on Farrington Highway near Waianae Valley Road in Waianae, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The driver has not been identified, and the Honolulu Police Department says the motorist continued driving west on the highway without stopping to render aid or provide information. EMS personnel treated the woman before transporting her.
Police say it remains unknown whether speed, drugs, or alcohol were factors in the collision. Officers are asking anyone with information about the crash to contact HPD's Traffic Division at 808-723-3413.
A Familiar and Dangerous Stretch of Highway
This is not the first serious pedestrian crash at this exact intersection this year. In April, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services responded to another severe collision at Farrington Highway and Waianae Valley Road, treating a 57-year-old pedestrian who was left in critical condition after being hit by a car. It's unclear whether Friday's crash and the April incident are connected.
Farrington Highway has carried a grim reputation for years. The corridor accounted for 13 of Oahu's 108 pedestrian fatalities between 2012 and 2017, and community members have long criticized the five-lane highway for lacking medians, adequate crosswalks, and safe shoulders. In January, a 42-year-old woman was struck and killed outside a marked crosswalk on the same highway near Liliana Street in nearby Maili, marking Oahu's second traffic fatality of the year.
Hit-And-Run Crashes a Statewide Problem
Hawaii sees roughly 1,208 hit-and-run crashes each year, resulting in an average of three fatalities annually, according to the state Department of Transportation. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 291C-12, a driver involved in a collision that causes serious bodily injury or death and fails to stop and render aid faces a Class B felony carrying up to 10 years in prison, fines as high as $50,000, and license revocation. If a victim's injuries are classified as substantial rather than serious, state law imposes a lesser Class C felony charge under § 291C-12.5, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines up to $10,000.
Statewide traffic deaths hit an 18-year high of 128 in 2025, with pedestrians accounting for 38 of those fatalities and Oahu alone responsible for 82 of the total, according to Civil Beat. State officials have said more than 90 percent of last year's fatal crashes involved driver behaviors such as speeding and impairment. Early 2026 data from the Hawaii Department of Transportation showed traffic deaths had fallen by 15 compared to the same period a year earlier, a drop officials credited to targeted enforcement and new driver safety programs.
State Money Is Coming, But Slowly
State lawmakers approved $27 million this year for the first phase of infrastructure upgrades along Farrington Highway in West Oahu, funding extended turning lanes and fiber-optic traffic signal modernizations, according to KHON2. The state had already installed raised crosswalks near Waianae High School and pilot gateway in-street warning signs at unsignalized intersections along the corridor back in 2018, part of an earlier effort to force drivers to yield to pedestrians.
Friday's crash echoes a hit-and-run near Waianae Mall in June, when a driver struck a 37-year-old pedestrian in a crosswalk before fleeing into a parking lot, and a fatal hit-and-run last November that killed a 65-year-old man along the same highway at Hale Wai Vista. The driver from Friday's crash remains at large, and police have not said whether investigators have obtained surveillance or dashcam footage that could help identify the vehicle.
