Hawaii Pedestrian Accident Settlement Amounts

Getting hit by a car while walking is one of the worst things that can happen on a Hawaii street, and it keeps getting more common. The Hawaii Department of Transportation counted 37 pedestrian deaths in 2024, up 61% from 23 the year before, and that was more than a third of every traffic death in the state.¹ If you survived and you're trying to figure out what your claim is worth, the answer depends less on a national average and more on a short list of Hawaii statutes that decide what you can collect and from whom.

Here's how those rules actually work.

No-fault pays first, even when you were on foot

Hawaii runs a no-fault insurance system, and it reaches people on foot. When a car strikes you, the striking vehicle's personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays your medical bills and lost earnings without anyone first deciding who caused the crash.² Every Hawaii auto policy carries at least $10,000 in PIP per person.² You don't need to own a car or carry your own insurance to use it. The driver's insurer has 30 days after you send reasonable proof of loss to either pay or deny the claim in writing, and anything left unpaid after that accrues interest at 1.5% per month.²

PIP is not your settlement. It's first-dollar coverage that keeps the bills moving while the larger claim develops.

The tort threshold decides whether pain and suffering is on the table

This rule shapes settlement size in Hawaii more than any other. Because of no-fault, you can't automatically sue the driver for general damages such as pain and suffering. You have to clear a threshold first. Under Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-306, tort liability opens up only when one of these is true:³

your PIP benefits incurred reach or exceed $5,000;
the injury is a significant permanent loss of use of a part or function of the body;
the injury is a permanent, serious disfigurement; or
the crash killed the person.

Cross that line and you can pursue the full value of the case, pain and suffering included. Stay below it and you're limited to economic losses paid through no-fault. This is also why the PIP coverage matters twice: the same medical treatment PIP pays for is what pushes your "benefits incurred" toward the $5,000 mark that unlocks a pain-and-suffering claim.³

Hawaii does not cap your damages in a vehicle case

Hawaii has a $375,000 cap on pain-and-suffering damages, but the statute that creates it excludes torts arising from a motor vehicle accident.⁴ A pedestrian hurt by a car is exactly that kind of tort. So once you clear the threshold, no state ceiling limits what a jury or a settlement can place on your pain and suffering.⁴ The figure is driven by the injuries and the proof, not by a statutory cap.

Your own share of fault comes straight off the top

Hawaii uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. Your damages drop by your percentage of fault, and once your fault is greater than the driver's, you recover nothing.⁵ At 50% at fault you still collect half; at 51% you're out. A large part of pedestrian settlement value is won or lost right here, because insurers routinely argue the pedestrian caused the collision.

Hawaii's crosswalk law sets the baseline. A driver has to stop for a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the road, or approaching from the other half closely enough to be in danger.⁶ The same statute cuts the other way, though: a pedestrian can't suddenly leave a curb and walk into the path of a car so close that the driver can't stop.⁶ Step off against the signal or mid-block outside a crosswalk and an adjuster will put a share of fault on you.

Oahu adds a wrinkle. Under Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Section 15-24.23, the "distracted walking" law, a pedestrian crossing a Honolulu street can't be looking at a phone or other electronic device, with a 911 call the only exception.⁷ Fines start at $15 and climb to $99 for repeat violations.⁷ If you were looking down at your phone in the crosswalk when the car hit you, expect that fact in the fault column.

What the driver carries often sets the real ceiling

A claim is worth only what you can actually collect, and for most crashes that means the at-fault driver's liability limits. Hawaii raised its minimums effective January 1, 2026 under Act 138 (2024). The floor is now $40,000 per person and $80,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $20,000 for property damage, up from the old 20/40/10.⁸ When a driver carries only the minimum and has no real assets, that per-person figure is often the practical cap on a bodily injury settlement.

That's why your own policy matters even though you were walking. If you own a car, your uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage follows you as a pedestrian and can pay when the driver is uninsured, underinsured, or gone. Hawaii insurers have to offer UM/UIM up to your bodily injury limits, but you're allowed to reject it in writing, and once you do they don't have to offer it again.⁸ Given how many Hawaii pedestrian crashes are hit-and-runs, it's worth pulling your own policy to see whether that coverage was ever rejected.

Drunk-driver cases can be worth more

If the driver who hit you was impaired, two Hawaii rules can lift a settlement past the usual limits. Punitive damages are available when there's clear and convincing evidence the driver acted wantonly, oppressively, or with conscious indifference to the consequences, the standard the Hawaii Supreme Court set in Masaki v. General Motors Corp.⁹ That exposure sits on top of ordinary negligence value and turns on how the driver behaved.

There's a second source of recovery, too. Since Ono v. Applegate, a bar or liquor licensee that serves a visibly intoxicated patron who then causes a crash can be held liable for the injuries that follow.¹⁰ A dram shop claim can carry a case when the driver's own coverage falls short.

Distraction cuts the same way. Hawaii bars a driver from holding and using a mobile device, with a $300 fine that rises to $400 in a school or construction zone.¹¹ A driver who was texting when they struck you has handed you strong evidence of negligence.

Deadlines and the report behind the claim

You have two years from the date of the crash to file suit for your injuries in Hawaii, and that same two-year window also covers vehicle or property damage.¹² Let it lapse and the claim is gone no matter how strong it was.

Start the paperwork early. Hawaii has no state highway patrol, so your crash report comes from the county police department where you were hit: Honolulu, Hawaii County, Maui, or Kauai.¹³ You can begin that on our Hawaii crash report page. If your own vehicle was involved and lost resale value, that's a separate claim you can read about at diminished value in Hawaii. And when the money gets serious or the insurer starts blaming you, a local attorney is worth the call; you can find one through our legal directory.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Hawaii Department of Transportation, "Traffic Fatalities Up 10% from 2023" (37 pedestrian deaths in 2024). https://hidot.hawaii.gov/blog/2024/12/31/traffic-fatalities-up-10-from-2023/
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-304 (no-fault benefits, pedestrian coverage, 30-day payment deadline and 1.5% monthly interest). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0304.htm
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-306 (tort threshold and $5,000 PIP figure). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm
Haw. Rev. Stat. Sections 663-8.7 and 663-10.9(2) ($375,000 pain-and-suffering cap and its motor vehicle exclusion). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0008_0007.htm
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 663-31 (modified comparative negligence, 51% bar). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 291C-72 (pedestrians' right-of-way in crosswalks). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol05_ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0072.htm
City and County of Honolulu, Office of the Mayor, electronic device pedestrian safety law (Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Section 15-24.23). https://www.honolulu.gov/mayor/electronic-device-pedestrian-safety-bill-goes-into-effect-wednesday/
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 431:10C-301, as amended by 2024 Act 138 (minimum 40/80/20 limits effective January 1, 2026; UM/UIM offer and written rejection). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm
Masaki v. General Motors Corp., 71 Haw. 1, 780 P.2d 566 (1989) (punitive damages standard). https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/supreme-court/1989/13023-2.html
Ono v. Applegate, 62 Haw. 131, 612 P.2d 533 (1980) (dram shop liability). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1270764/ono-v-applegate/
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 291C-137 (mobile electronic device ban for drivers, $300/$400 fine). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol05_ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0137.htm
Haw. Rev. Stat. Section 657-7 (two-year statute of limitations for injury and property damage). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm
Honolulu Police Department, Police Reports. https://www.honolulupd.org/police-reports/

Pedestrian accident settlement amounts in Hawaii