Emergency service workers said it appeared the car was headed toward Kahuku when the crash occurred about 4 a.m.

They said the car came to rest upside down on the makai side of the road with the driver pinned inside and the fallen utility pole lying atop the crushed car.

The driver, believed to have been the sole occupant, was declared dead at the scene.

Rescue workers said the victim was tentatively identified based on a driver's license found in his wallet, but declined to release his name.

Police closed down both lanes of the highway shortly after the crash this morning to allow traffic investigators to analyze the scene, resulting in an hours-long detour for motorists trying to reach Hale'iwa from points east. They were forced to turn around, go back to Kane'ohe on Kamehameha Highway, cross over the Ko'olau and go back up through Central O'ahu.

The fatal crash today was the second this week.

A 44-year-old man was killed Wednesday when his truck ran off the H-1 Freeway's Honolulu-bound lanes near the Nimitz off-ramp and struck a concrete pillar supporting a bridge above.

Today's traffic fatality was the 58th of the year on O'ahu compared with 74 during the same period last year.