A 49-year-old Wailuku man is dead after the motorcycle he was riding crashed into the rear of a passenger vehicle on Maui early today.

The Maui Police Department said the crash happened just after 4:45 a.m. this morning on Maui Veterans Highway just north of Kamaaina Road in Kahului.

A preliminary investigation determined the Wailuku man was operating a 2005 Honda CB900 motorcycle at a high rate of speed while traveling south on the highway when he struck the rear of a 2021 Nissan Rogue also heading southbound.

The collision sent the Nissan spinning uncontrollably across a grassy center median before entering the northbound lanes of the highway and rolling over multiple times. The driver of the Nissan, a 30-year-old Kahului woman, was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries sustained in the crash.

The Wailuku man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity is being withheld by Maui police pending notification of next of kin.

MPD said the man was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash; the woman was using a seatbelt and her vehicle’s airbags deployed during the incident.

While speed is considered a factor, MPD said investigators are working to determine whether drugs and/or alcohol were involved.

This is Maui County’s fifth traffic fatality in 2022, compared to one at the same time in 2021.