By Tom Crosby

Motorcycle deaths in North Carolina and tractor trailer traffic deaths in South Carolina climbed higher during 2005, according to AAA’s annual analysis of crash data in both states.

North Carolina saw a 15 percent increase in motorcycle deaths (117 to 134) and in tiny Graham County one of every three traffic crashes involved a motorcycle, and in half those crashes someone was injured.

Graham, on the Tennessee border, was the county where North Carolina motorists had the greatest chance of being in an injury accident in 2005.

In South Carolina, for the second straight year, tractor-trailer highway crashes increased from 74 to 84 with the highest number of deadly tractor-trailer crashes as a percentage of total crashes occurring in Union County, below Spartanburg.

Statewide, South Carolina traffic deaths overall increased from 1,046 to 1,093 last year. North Carolina saw a slight drop in total deaths, from 1,574 in 2004 to 1,535 last year, Total crashes in North Carolina dropped 4 percent to 222,113.

“Highway crashes are one of the biggest public health hazards in North and South Carolina,” said David E. Parsons, president and CEO of AAA Carolinas. “We need to begin to give it the same intense attention we give to avian flu and West Nile virus. The motoring public needs to be aware that, behind the wheel of any vehicle, there are serious risks.”

North Carolina

1. Warren County, on the Virginia border, was the most dangerous county for deadly crashes per mile traveled. There were 13 fatal crashes out of 386 crashes in the county.
2. Graham had the largest percentage of recorded injury crashes involving motorcycles. Nearly half of all its injury crashes involved a motorcycle.
3. Just north of Swain County, Haywood County was the most dangerous for tractor-trailer crashes. Eleven percent of the county’s crashes involved a tractor-trailer; however, only one resulted in a highway death.

The most dangerous counties, with the most crashes per mile driven, are as follows, with the number of times in the top three for each
category in the past five years:       

• Total Crashes: New Hanover (5 years in top three), Durham (1 year in top three), Graham (1 year in top three)
• Injury crashes: Graham (3 years), New Hanover (5 years), Mecklenburg (5 years)
• Fatal crashes: Warren (1 year), Gates (1 year), Alexander (1 year)
  “The five year overview shows which counties have a continuing serious problem dealing with traffic crashes,” Parsons said.
  The safest counties, with the fewest crashes per mile traveled, were:
• Total crashes: Polk, Haywood, Swain
• Injury crashes: Polk, Currituck, Washington
• Fatal crashes: Chowan, Hyde, McDowell

Both Chowan and Hyde counties, in eastern North Carolina, recorded zero deadly crashes.

South Carolina

1. Charleston County, which contains the city of Charleston, was the most dangerous county in 2005 for all vehicles offering the greatest chance – per mile driven – of being in a crash and being in an injury crash.
2. Barnwell County had the greatest chance of a deadly crash per mile driven.

The most dangerous counties, with the most crashes per mile driven, are as follows, with the number of times in the top three for each category in the past five years: 

• Total crashes: Charleston (5 years), Richland (3 years), Greenville (3 years)
• Injury crashes: Charleston (5 years), Greenwood (1 year), Richland (1 year)
• Fatal crashes: Barnwell (2 years), Saluda (1 year), Chesterfield (4 years)

“With the state’s primary seat belt law going into effect the last month of 2005, we hope to see a decline in the number of fatalities and injuries in 2006,” said Parsons. “Wearing a seat belt is one of the most effective ways of preventing death or injury in a crash.”

Charleston recorded more than 13,000 crashes – a 3 percent increase - in 2005, more than any other county in the state. The good news is Charleston’s fatalities dropped from a high 63 to 43, 11 fewer than its neighbor Berkeley County.

Jasper County had the highest number of tractor-trailer deaths, with seven fatal crashes. Statewide, this was the second consecutive year the state saw a double-digit percentage increase in fatal tractor-trailer crashes.

For all vehicles, crashes in the Palmetto State increased nearly 2 percent to 111,971, and fatal traffic crashes increased 4 percent to 980. Injury crashes, however, dropped from 32,497 to 31,545.

Mimicking a national trend, deadly motorcycle crashes rose 6 percent to 90 crashes, injury crashes dropped 8 percent to 1,222 and total motorcycle crashes increased 3 percent to 1,792.

Safest counties, per mile driven, and the type of crashes motorists were least likely to have, were:

• Total crashes: Calhoun, Fairfield, Lee
• Fatal crashes: Allendale, Hampton, Charleston
• Injury-only crashes: Calhoun, Jasper, Clarendon

The annual AAA Carolinas study is based on the number of crashes, deaths and injuries per mile traveled in each county to show where motorists have the greatest - and least - chance of being in a crash, being injured or killed.

AAA Carolinas’ ranking of counties is one of several ways crash data can
be analyzed, and it is done in order to alert motorists statewide about the environment in which they drive. AAA Carolinas has been doing an analysis of dangerous counties since 1995.