A 51-year-old man was left with life-threatening injuries Monday night after a pickup truck struck him while he was crossing South Kīhei Road near Waimahaihai Street, and he remained in critical condition as police continued investigating what led up to the collision. The driver, a 17-year-old from Kīhei, was not hurt.
According to Maui Now, police said the crash was reported at approximately 8:32 p.m. Monday. The pedestrian was walking across the street from the southeast corner to the northwest corner when a gray 2016 GMC Canyon traveling southbound struck him, police said. Investigators said the man was not using a marked crosswalk at the time of the incident.
The 17-year-old driving the GMC reported no injuries and was wearing a seatbelt, per the same account. Hawaii News Now reported that the injured man was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition.
Cause Still Under Investigation
Police have not determined whether speed, alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash, and the investigation remains ongoing, the report notes. No further update on the man's condition or on any possible citations against the teen driver has been released.
This is not the first time a pedestrian has been struck outside a crosswalk on South Kīhei Road. In October 2024, a 71-year-old man suffered fatal injuries after being hit while crossing the same roadway outside a marked crosswalk, fronting 1301 South Kīhei Road just north of East Līpoa Street, according to Maui Now's earlier reporting. That crash happened around 5:50 a.m., with the northbound vehicle's driver remaining at the scene.
A separate incident on South Kīhei Road left a 34-year-old Kīhei woman in critical condition after she was walking on the northbound shoulder and was struck by an unidentified vehicle that fled, according to KITV.
A Deadlier Year on Hawaiʻi Roads
Monday's crash comes amid a sharp rise in traffic deaths statewide. Hawaiʻi recorded 129 road deaths in 2025, more than a 20% increase over 2024 and the highest total since 2007, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. Maui County alone saw nine road deaths in 2025, up from just two the year before.
The state's road fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled climbed from 0.93 at the end of 2024 to 1.27 by the end of September 2025, Civil Beat reported. Serious road injuries statewide actually fell about 10%, from 579 to 529, over the same period — a split trend that has drawn attention from safety officials even as fatal crashes mounted.
Maui County's Department of Public Works has previously tried to address pedestrian safety on South Kīhei Road, launching a pilot project aimed at increasing driver awareness at crosswalks, including one near the Kīhei Canoe Club north of Uwapo Road, Maui Now reported in 2019. Whether any additional measures are planned for the stretch near Waimahaihai Street was not addressed in the available reporting.
