Woman killed in Hilo crash on Highway 11, police investigate
A Kurtistown woman died when her Honda Accord tried to cross Highway 11 at Māmakī Street and was hit by a truck, the third fatal crash in Hawaii County that week.
A 32-year-old Kurtistown woman was killed Friday morning on the Panaewa stretch of Highway 11 in Hilo, turning a busy commuter crossing near Māmakī Street into the scene of Hawaii County’s third traffic fatality of the week.
Hawaii Island police said the collision was reported at 7:08 a.m. on May 8, 2026. Investigators said a 2017 Honda Accord sedan was traveling eastbound on Māmakī Street and attempted to cross Highway 11 when it was struck by a truck traveling on the highway.
The woman died in the crash. Police have not publicly released additional details about the circumstances leading up to the impact, and the cause remained under investigation in the initial release.
The deadly collision added to an already grim week on Hawaii Island roads. It followed another fatal crash earlier in the week on Daniel K. Inouye Highway, underscoring how quickly routine travel across the county can turn deadly on high-speed corridors and intersection crossings.
The crash site sits along a heavily traveled section of Highway 11 in Panaewa, where traffic from Hilo and the surrounding Puna area funnels through one of the island’s key links. The intersection with Māmakī Street is now tied to a fatal collision that left a Kurtistown family grieving and investigators still piecing together what happened in the morning rush.
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