Last year Johnston County had the state’s worst teen traffic death toll, with accidents in 2007 that killed 14 people aged 15 to 20 (10 drivers and 4 passengers).
Johnston lost two more young people in a crash this week.
Which county was North Carolina’s worst in 2006? Wake, which lost 9 drivers and 7 passengers in that tender age group, according to statistics from the UNC Highway Safety Research Center.
In 2005, it was Guilford County’s turn at the top of this unhappy list: 7 drivers and 6 passengers.
Over the past three years, 2005-07, Wake County crashes have killed a total of 26 young people aged 15 to 20 (tying Davidson County for the state’s worst three-year record). Johnston’s three-year total is 24.
Fortunately, Durham and Orange accidents have not claimed as many young lives. From 2005 through 2007, Durham and Orange each lost 4 people aged 15 to 20 in traffic crashes.
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter, editor and blogger since 1976, he took over the
Comments
Please normalize these numbers
Tue, 09/23/2008 - 16:01 — Bob (not verified)Bruce, let's have some statistical context for these raw numbers. Of course Wake is going to expect many more fatalities (in any age group) than Johnston. Wake has about 5 times the population of Johnston and is second only to Mecklenburg within the state. Wake may well exceed even Mecklenburg when considering only the age 15-20 subgroup (the Wake school system's population now tops Mecklenburg's, and NCSU's undergraduate population far exceeds UNCC's). So, all things considered, one would naturally expect Wake to have the most fatalities in that demographic in any given year. The fact that it does not consistently claim this dishonor probably owes something to the relatively low value of the absolute numbers here -- a single tragic accident can vault a county into the top ranks all by itself. More informative would be to examine teenage fatality rates PER CAPITA across all counties. Better yet would be the rate per 100-million vehicle miles traveled, which is the standard used in most government safety figures.
per capita
Mon, 09/29/2008 - 16:27 — BruceSiceloff (author)Yes, which makes it all the more remarkable that Johnston had the worst numbers last year. Another couple of mid-size counties -- Davidson and Robeson if I remember correctly -- also have had more than their share in the last few years.
These are small numbers relatively speaking and they fluctuate from year to year. A couple of bad crashes one year can make a big difference. Almost every county's numbers in this category have bounced up and down from year to year.
I appreciate your point but in this case I did not think it would be useful to do the per capita or per mile math. What matters I think in this case is simpler focus on small whole numbers of lives lost.
It's a privilege, not a right
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 11:17 — Dadof3We've got to get serious about auto fatalities. The flippancy the public accords the matter reflects some serious disconnect between cause and effect.