Data Report. Created: North Carolina Fatalities of year-olds in Motor Vehicle Crashes

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1 Data Report Created: North Carolina of year-olds in Motor Please note: This information is specific to the request of the Executive Director of the Child Fatality Task Force. Data includes only North Carolina residents. Data is released in aggregate. Data is subject to change. Questions or requests for data should be directed to the Research Director of the NC CFPT. Select terms are used throughout this report: Teen refers to North Carolina residents between the ages of 15 and 17 years; applies to teen drivers killed in a car crashes; Passenger refers to teen passengers killed in car crashes; of Passenger refers to the drivers of the vehicles in which the teen passengers were occupants when killed, and; Other refers to the drivers of vehicles in which no teen occupants were killed but the other driver was at fault in the crash. In 2010, 37 motor vehicle crashes claimed the lives of 38 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 years on North Carolina roadways. Decedent Age Passenger 15 years years years The majority of crash fatalities were white and male. Sex Passenger Male Female Race Passenger White Black Biracial Unknown Hispanic North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health Epidemiology Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor Lanier M. Cansler, Secretary Jeffrey P. Engel, MD, State Health Director Deborah L. Radisch, MD, MPH, NC Chief Medical Examiner, CFPT Director An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer

2 Crash victims were from 30 counties. In Davidson County, there was 1 crash in which the driver and passenger were killed. This is counted as 1 crash and is denoted with an asterisk* in throughout the report. Residence County Passenger Ashe Avery Bertie Buncombe Cabarrus Columbus Cumberland Davidson 1 2 2* Forsyth Franklin Gaston Granville Guilford Harnett Iredell Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Mecklenburg Nash Onslow Pasquotank Person Stanly Surry Union Wake Wayne Wilkes The majority of fatal crashes occurred in rural areas. Please note: these are the classifications assigned for the area of the crash, not necessarily the type of area in which the decedents resided. Area Passenger Rural Mixed Urban 2 4 5*

3 Circumstances of 3 The majority of crashes for teen drivers occurred between 5 am and 9 am and 2 pm and 6 pm. The majority of crashes for teen passengers occurred between 12 am and 5 am. Approximate Crash Time Passenger 12 am - 5 am am - 9 am am - 12 pm 1 1 1* 12 pm - 3 pm pm - 6 pm pm - 9 pm pm - 12 am The majority of the 37 crashes occurred in April and May. Month Passenger Jan Feb Mar Apr 7 3 9* May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Teen drivers died in single and two vehicle crashes almost equally while passengers died in more single vehicle crashes. Passenger cars were involved in the majority of crashes for both teen drivers and passengers. s involved Passenger Single vehicle * Type Passenger Car SUV 3 2 4* Truck Van Moped Motorcycle

4 The following 2 tables address the at fault drivers. The at fault designation is assigned to the person(s) whose actions and/or behaviors were the significant contributing factors in causing the crash. Teen represents the teenagers who died while driving and were at fault. of Passenger represents those cases in which the teenager who died was a passenger in the vehicle of the at fault driver. of Other represents those deaths in which there were 2 or more vehicles involved and the teenager who died was not an occupant of the vehicle in which the driver was at fault. Teen drivers were found to be at fault in the majority of their crashes. In teen passenger deaths, the driver at fault was the driver of the vehicle in which the teenager was a passenger. At fault Teen Deaths Teen 17 of Other 2 No fault 1 Passenger Deaths of Passenger 16 of other 2 The table below addresses the age and the position of the driver at fault in relation to the teen fatality. The majority of at fault drivers in crashes where the teen who died was a passenger or the other driver was at fault were under 21 years of age. As noted earlier there was one death in which no one was found to be at fault in the crash. Age of At Fault of Passenger of Other Teen years * years years years years Speed was the main factor in the majority of teen driver fatalities. Speed and impairment were the main factors in fatalities where the teen passenger was killed. Other Cause Weather Errordriving Error cell/text Speed Impairment Cause of Passenger Other Weather Error-driving Error cell/text Speed Impairment

5 Speed was the main factor in 15 of the total deaths, but was a factor in a total of 23 deaths. When the estimated travel speed was over the speed limit for teen drivers, the range of speed over the limit was 9 mph 85 mph, with an average of approximately 23 mph over the limit. Excluding the single outlier of 85 mph, the average was approximately 18 mph over the speed limit. The estimated range in passenger deaths was 10 mph to 55 mph with an average of 29 mph over the speed limit. Speed a factor Passenger Speeding * Speed unsafe for condition No speeding or N/A As noted earlier, a total of 10 accidents in which the person at fault was impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. When examining the teenagers who died in fatal car crashes, approximately 1/4 of the drivers tested positive for ethanol and just over 1/3 of the passengers tested positive for ethanol. One also tested positive for marijuana. Toxicology Passenger Alcohol None No analysis The majority of teen drivers were alone in the vehicle at the time of the fatal crash (all of the moped/motorcycle drivers were alone and were not included in this table). The majority of passengers were in crashes in which 2 people were in the vehicle. Number in Passenger Decedent only people people or more people 2 7 8* The 3 drivers of motorcycles/moped all wore helmets; however, one was not Department of Transportation approved. The remaining 35 deaths involved seat restraints. Teen drivers were wearing seat restraints in approximately half of the crashes while half of passengers were not wearing seatbelts. In 1 death seat restraint use was not known. Restraint Use Passenger Yes No Unknown For more information or additional data, please contact: Krista Ragan, MA, NC CFPT Research Director Phone: Fax: Krista.ragan@dhhs.nc.gov 5