Two men die in head-on crash on Daniel K. Inouye Highway

A passing attempt on Daniel K. Inouye Highway turned deadly near the 26-mile marker Tuesday, killing Hilo driver Todd Matsushita and a 34-year-old Virginia man and closing the island’s main cross-island route for about an hour.

Hawaii police said the collision happened at about 11 a.m. when a Hilo-bound 2011 Toyota Corolla driven by the 70-year-old Matsushita struck a Kona-bound 2016 Hyundai Tucson head-on while trying to pass another vehicle. South Hilo Patrol, Hawaii Fire Department personnel and Pōhakuloa Fire and Emergency Services responded to the crash scene, where the driver of the Hyundai was treated immediately but died at 11:38 a.m. Matsushita was found unresponsive, taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center and pronounced dead at 12:28 p.m.

Police said autopsies were ordered to determine the exact causes of death, and investigators believed speed and reckless driving contributed to the crash. The Area I Traffic Enforcement Unit continued to investigate, and police asked anyone with information to contact Officer Laurence Davis or the department’s nonemergency line.

The wreck briefly cut off a corridor that many Big Island drivers use to move between East and West Hawaii. The shutdown on the highway, formerly known as Saddle Road, showed how a single passing maneuver on the 48-mile route can quickly ripple through commuter traffic, freight movement and emergency response across the island.

The crash also renewed scrutiny of a road that has been the site of repeated head-on collisions. In October 2025, a head-on crash near the 25-mile marker killed one woman and seriously injured five others, including a three-week-old infant, after police said the pickup driver had overtaken multiple vehicles before impact. Hawaii Police Department later said 2025 ended as Hawaii Island’s deadliest recent road year, with 19 fatal crashes and 21 deaths on the island.

Daniel K. Inouye Highway climbs nearly 5,500 vertical feet across varied terrain and rainfall conditions, a combination the Hawaii Department of Transportation has long said made construction difficult. The road was renamed for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye in 2013, and a major final phase opened in 2017. On a route built to connect the island, Tuesday’s crash again exposed how quickly a risky pass can turn one of Hawaii Island’s most important highways into a fatal scene.