North Carolina Officials Want To Remind You Speeding Wrecks Lives
Taking a road trip or just driving to work? Be sure to take it slow this week. North Carolina law enforcement will be patrolling the roads July 18-24 looking for…
Taking a road trip or just driving to work? Be sure to take it slow this week. North Carolina law enforcement will be patrolling the roads July 18-24 looking for individuals who are speeding. It's all part of the Governor's Highway Safety Program Speeding Wrecks Lives campaign. Speeding Wrecks Lives is a national initiative in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
“Speeding-related crashes are at all-time high levels across the country, including North Carolina, and one proven way to prevent speeding is an increased law enforcement presence on the roads,” said Mark Ezzell, director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. “Campaigns like these are key pieces to decreasing crashes, even as we work on more long-term solutions such as safe road design, safer cars and quality driver education.”
Speeding is one of the leading causes of injuries and deaths on North Carolina roadways. In 2021, 424 people died statewide as a result of speeding-related crashes. It can be tempting to go just a little over the limit but to be safe, drivers should avoid speeding. Just a little increase in speed reduces a driver’s ability to negotiate curves and makes it more difficult to stop.
Speeding is a major cause of injuries and deaths on North Carolina roadways. Consider these 2021 statistics (from the Governor's Highway Safety Program):
424 people died in speeding-related crashes in North Carolina in 2021.
Speeding was a contributing factor in nearly 25 percent of all fatal crashes.
91 percent of speed-related fatalities occurred on non-interstate roads; 9 percent occurred on interstate highways.
From 2017 to 2021, males made up the largest percentage (75 percent) of speed related crash fatalities. Males under the age of 39 account for nearly half of all speeding-related crashes.
From 2017 to 2021, there was a 17 percent increase in speed-related crash fatalities.
From 2017 to 2021, 27 percent of speed related crash fatalities occurred in the Top 5 Counties (Mecklenburg, Guilford, Wake, Robeson and Cumberland)
It seems like everyone you know who is flying these days has horror stories. Airports like every other industry are struggling to find workers. This translates into delayed or canceled flights, lost luggage, and long lines. CNN recently conducted an analysis with Flight Aware of which airports have the highest percentage of canceled flights this summer. And the two largest North Carolina airports made the list. With Charlotte Douglas being one of the busiest in the country it's no surprise it made the list. The winner however was Newark with 7.9% of flights being canceled.
They also listed the airports with the highest percentage of delayed flights. And NC is represented on this one as well. Leading the pack was Chicago with over 1/3 of their flights being delayed. Now that's rough. I recently flew from Charlotte to Nashville and was fine getting there. I did have a few-hour delay on the way back, however. But listening to stories from other people I know who have traveled lately, I got off pretty easy.
While staffing issues play a major role in this you can't discount weather, especially in the summer. The data in both of these lists is based on flights from the period of May 28 through July 13. Keep reading to see the where the North Carolina airports ranked as far as canceled and delayed flights this summer. Read the full CNN article here.
