What is Hawaii's road fatality rate?

Hawaii has a road fatality rate of 6.5 per 100,000 population and 0.9 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 46.8% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Hawaii in 2023?

In 2023, Hawaii recorded 93 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 933.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Hawaii?

The leading cause is nighttime, accounting for 57.4% of all fatalities (536 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Hawaii?

Road fatalities in Hawaii are stable with a 0.0% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 93 in 2015 to 93 in 2023.

How does Hawaii compare to the national average for road safety?

Hawaii's fatality rate of 6.5 per 100K is 46.8% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Hawaii ranks #47 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Hawaii's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 33.3% of road fatalities in Hawaii, representing 311 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 30.4% and pedestrian incidents for 25.9%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Hawaii?

In Hawaii, urban roads account for more fatalities: 162 rural vs. 765 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 17.4% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Hawaii: lower-rate fatality band

Hawaii is in the lower per-capita third: 93 traffic deaths in 2023 at 6.5 per 100,000 (#47 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

93
Deaths (2023): 6.5
Per 100k residents: Below average; 0.9
Per 100M VMT: -23
2022–2023 deaths

Lower per-capita fatality band

Hawaii ranks #47 of 51 by deaths per 100,000 residents (6.5/100k) - bottom-third rate among 51 states and D.C.

Hawaii in the lower-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Hawaii sits in the lower-rate third at 6.5 per 100k (#47 of 51), 47% below the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with nighttime the largest contributing factor.

#47 of 51
lower-rate third: 6.5/100k
2023 fatality rate: #47/51
by total FARS fatalities: Nighttime
leading contributing factor

93 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

91%

Urban 85 (91.4%)
Rural 7 (7.5%)
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 1 (1.1%)

FARS milepost strip

Milepost HI · Hawaii #47 of 51 · 6.5/100k

Hawaii · 6.5/100k · 93 in 2023 · #47 of 51

MILE 6.5/100k
BAND #47 of 51
POST 0.9/100M
RATE 933 book
RANK near District of Columbia
VMT 30.4% spd
BOOK 25.9% ped
ALC -46.8% vs US

Stamps derive from this state's NHTSA FARS row (per-100k rate, corpus rank, VMT rate, fatality book, nearest-rate peer, alcohol/speeding/pedestrian shares, vs-national gap), not a trip-risk forecast. PlainRoadSafety is informational only. See our disclaimer. Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Read with methodology → · Understanding road fatality data → · States ranked →

Road Safety Index

56/100

Hawaii

Benchmarked against all 51 states (50 states + DC) on fatality rate, exposure-adjusted rate, pedestrian and impaired-driving fatality share, and safety trend from NHTSA FARS, US Census Bureau, and FHWA sources, not enforcement, infrastructure spend, or road-condition ratings.

Fatality Rate A+

6.5/100k

Fatalities per 100,000 residents (NHTSA FARS + Census PEP population)

Exposure-Adjusted Rate A+

0.89/100M VMT

Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (NHTSA FARS + FHWA Highway Statistics)

Pedestrian Safety F

25.9%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

33.3%

Share of fatalities that were alcohol-impaired (NHTSA FARS)

Safety Trend F

+0.0%

Change in fatalities over the reporting period; negative is declining (NHTSA FARS)

Pedestrian-led roadside pattern in Hawaii

After vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, Hawaii's 2023 FARS first-harm leader is Pedestrian at 22.6%, a pedestrian-forward pattern relative to fixed-object states. Counts come from the NHTSA FARS accident microdata for 2023 (first harmful event, weather, light, route, and rural/urban setting), not from the seeded state rollup alone.

First harmful event

Motor Vehicle In-Transport 24.7% · 23
Pedestrian 22.6% · 21
Curb 9.7% · 9
Pedalcyclist 8.6% · 8
Embankment 5.4% · 5

Light condition

Dark - Lighted 39.8% · 37
Daylight 25.8% · 24
Dark - Not Lighted 24.7% · 23
Dawn 3.2% · 3
Dark - Unknown Lighting 2.2% · 2

Roadway class

State Highway 50.5% · 47
County 35.5% · 33
Interstate 12.9% · 12
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 1.1% · 1

Weather at crash

Clear 80.6% · 75
Cloudy 9.7% · 9
Rain 7.5% · 7

New York

6
Hawaii

7
District of …

7
New Jersey

7
Rhode Island

7
Minnesota

7

What this shows Hawaii sits among the five nearest fatality-rate peers on the per-100k scale.

Nighttime

57
Alcohol-Impaired

33
Unrestrained

31
Speeding

30
Pedestrian

26
Weather-Related

24

What this shows Nighttime is the top contributing cause in Hawaii, involved in 57.4% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Hawaii vs all states by fatality rate

Where this state's deaths-per-100k sits among every state and D.C. on PlainRoadSafety

7 Among the safer states a lower per-capita rate than 88% of 51 states

States and D.C., banded by fatality rate per 100,000 residents

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source NHTSA FARS over Census population · 2026-09-03

Hawaii plotted against a representative sample of 27 of 51 states and D.C. by deaths per 100,000 residents (x) and deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (y). Dashed lines mark the national median across all 51, computed from the full corpus.

Hawaii can rank differently on each axis: population density pushes the per-capita rate one way, and rural-highway commute length pushes the per-mile rate another. Hover or tap any point (including Hawaii's own, highlighted) for its exact figures.

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the lower-rate third, Hawaii moved from 93 deaths in 2015 to 93 in 2023 (0.0%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	93	6.5	32	28	25
2016	120	8.4	33	39	29
2017	107	7.5	41	29	14
2018	117	8.2	30	40	42
2019	108	7.5	37	26	36
2020	85	5.9	31	28	21
2021	94	6.5	35	29	25
2022	116	8.1	40	31	28
2023	93	6.5	32	34	22

Honolulu leads Hawaii's county fatality book

Honolulu County alone accounts for 52.1% of Hawaii's 840 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (438 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Maui sits higher at 10.4/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	HONOLULU (3)	438	58	48.7	↑ increasing
2	HAWAII (1)	213	15	23.7	↑ increasing
3	MAUI (9)	138	17	15.3	↑ increasing
4	KAUAI (7)	51	3	5.7	↔ stable

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among lower-rate peers, District of Columbia (6.5/100k) and New Jersey (6.5/100k) bracket Hawaii's 6.5 per 100k.

6 of 50 other states are shown here, ranked by closeness to Hawaii's fatality rate.

District of Columbia

6.5 per 100K

44 fatalities (2023)

New Jersey

6.5 per 100K

606 fatalities (2023)

Rhode Island

6.5 per 100K

71 fatalities (2023)

Minnesota

7.1 per 100K

409 fatalities (2023)

New York

5.7 per 100K

1,114 fatalities (2023)

Massachusetts

4.9 per 100K

343 fatalities (2023)

Honolulu County and related Hawaii road data

Contextual links from this profile to rankings, tools, research, and peer geographies on PlainRoadSafety.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Hawaii (#47 of 51; volume #47/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →

Hawaii: lower-rate fatality band

93 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

Pedestrian-led roadside pattern in Hawaii

First harmful event

Light condition

Roadway class

Weather at crash

Hawaii rate neighbourhood

Leading Causes of Fatalities

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

Honolulu leads Hawaii's county fatality book

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Honolulu County and related Hawaii road data