Thanksgiving weekend got off to a deadly start on O'ahu roads yesterday with the deaths of a 50-year-old pedestrian and a 23-year-old motorcyclist.

The pedestrian fell off a curb into the path of a city bus. He was the city's 18th pedestrian fatality this year overall and the 16th pedestrian aged 50 or older.

Police vehicular homicide investigator Sgt. Alan Vegas said the man, whose name was not released yesterday, was struck at 1:35 p.m. on North King Street, 96 feet west of North Beretania Street, near 'A'ala Park.

He was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in extremely critical condition and pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m., Vegas said.

The 60-year-old male driver and bus passengers were not injured. Police closed two lanes on North King Street in the area of the accident for two hours.

A mile away, at about 8:30 p.m., a man in his 40s was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident at 1247 N. School St., city emergency services spokesman Bryan Cheplic said.

Yesterday's pedestrian death came six days after an 85-year-old man was struck and killed by a car driven by an 82-year-old woman as he was crossing Kalaniana'ole Highway. Charles Ma was in a crosswalk, walking to his home on Wa'a Street, when he was hit.

The number of pedestrian deaths so far this year is just shy of last year's total of 20 deaths.

Kenneth Hong, O'ahu Transit senior vice president and assistant general manager, said bus officials are conducting an internal investigation into yesterday's incident involving the Route 1 bus to East Honolulu.

Based on preliminary witness statements, it appears the victim slipped off the curb or fell while bending over to pick up something, Hong said.

"It's a tragedy and we feel bad for the families because it's holiday time," Hong said.

The bus driver has been an O'ahu Transit Services employee since 1994, said Hong.

The death was the second traffic fatality of the day.

At about 1 a.m., a 23-year-old Army man stationed at Schofield Barracks was killed in a motorcycle crash on H-2 Freeway, the 12th motorcycle-related death this year. The man's name was not released yesterday.

Speed appears to be a factor, said vehicular homicide investigator Sgt. John Agno. The crash on H-2 involved a 2005 Honda CBR600, and the driver was not wearing a helmet, said Agno.

The southbound motorcyclist lost control of the Honda, struck a guardrail on his right, spun out and hit another guardrail, a large rock and light pole.

He suffered head, leg and abdominal injuries and died at Kapi'olani Medical Center at Pali Momi.

The 2007 motorcycle fatality count matches the five-year high of 12 in 2005.

Statewide, the totals as of yesterday were four motorcycle and three pedestrian deaths on the Big Island; three motorcycle and two pedestrian deaths on Maui, and two motorcycle and no pedestrian fatalities on Kaua'i.

Pedestrians and motorcyclists have accounted for more than half of O'ahu's 2007 traffic fatalities, which rose to 58 yesterday with the two deaths.

By comparison, there were 20 pedestrian and nine motorcycle deaths in 2006, when O'ahu had 90 total traffic fatalities.