The new year was barely four hours old when a Honolulu woman was killed in a traffic accident in Kalihi. The second traffic death of 2009 followed last night in the Waipahu area, officials said.

A man in his late 20s was pronounced dead by paramedics at 8:13 p.m. after a motorcycle accident in the 9400 block of Kupuna Loop, according to Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city's Emergency Services Department.

The man is believed to have been the operator of the motorcyle. No other information was available.

That accident came some 16 hours after a 46-year-old Honolulu woman was killed when the 1992 Chevy Camaro she was a passenger in crashed in a single-vehicle accident at 4:01 a.m. at the intersection of Kamehameha IV Road and Likelike Highway, according to Honolulu Police Department Sgt. Andrew Berky.

Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Police said speed may have been a factor in the crash. The car was traveling south on Kamehameha IV Road when the driver lost control and the car drifted onto the right shoulder, hitting a rock wall and flipping over multiple times before coming to rest on the left-most lane of Likelike, police said.

The driver, a 23-year-old Honolulu man, was taken to The Queen's Medical Center by paramedics and was listed in serious condition, Berky said.

Meanwhile, a 45-year-old Kailua man was in critical condition at a local hospital after the motorcycle he was riding struck a car in Kaimuki shortly after 1 a.m., police said. The man was not wearing a helmet, police said.