Fatal crashes rise in N.C. during pandemic, even though driving was way down
Greg Barnes, North Carolina Health News
January 25, 2021
The number of people dying on North Carolina’s roads increased last year, despite far fewer people driving because of the coronavirus pandemic.
At times, the number of people on the state’s roads declined by as much as 40 percent, said Mark Ezzell, director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. The largest decline was primarily due to Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order, which began March 30 and lasted until May 22.
Overall during 2020, statistics provided by Ezzell show, driving in North Carolina fell nearly 19 percent.
Yet the statistics show that 1,622 people died in crashes this year compared with 1,479 in 2019, an increase of 9.7 percent. The number of fatal crashes in 2020 also increased, by 114.
So what is driving the increase in the fatal crash rate, not just in North Carolina but across the country?
Ezzell and Arthur Goodwin of the UNC Highway Safety Research Center aren’t exactly sure. Both say they continue to study the phenomenon.
