Walking Into Danger

Why Hawaiʻi's kupuna are the most at-risk pedestrians in America — and what it will take to bring them home safe.

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The problem, in one page.

Hawaiʻi is the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrians age 65 and older. Kupuna here die on foot at roughly four times the rate of people under 65, and the state's population is aging faster than its streets are getting safer. By 2030, roughly one in four Hawaiʻi residents will be 60 or older.

The 2026 legislative session offered a clear test of whether lawmakers would respond to that risk. Seven pedestrian-safety bills were introduced. Six died. The one that passed — SB 3234, the Tehya Mahelona Bill — appropriated $2 million for school-area crosswalk improvements and is named for a 19-year-old killed last October on the same Leeward Coast corridor this report identifies as Hawaiʻi's deadliest.

What this report covers

●      The national and state data — how Hawaiʻi's senior-pedestrian fatality rate compares to the rest of the country, and how it has changed since 2009.

●      The root causes — age-related physiology, exposure, vehicle size, and street design — and how each compounds the others.

●      The geography of risk — the four Oʻahu corridors that dominate the fatality data, and the human story behind one of them.

●      What is already working — HDOT countermeasures, Honolulu's Complete Streets program, Walk Wise Hawaiʻi outreach, and the FHWA-proven engineering treatments that consistently reduce pedestrian crashes.

●      The 2026 legislative outcome — one bill passed, six died, and the policy questions left unanswered for the 2027 session.

●      Recommendations for state agencies, county governments, caregivers, and kupuna themselves.