Distracted Driving Fatal for North Carolina Teen Drivers
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle accidents are the leading causes of death for young Americans.

April 22, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle accidents are the leading causes of death for young Americans.

The CDC, in collaboration with the NHTSA, analyzed data from the Fatality Analysis Report System (FARS). After reviewing reports from 2004 to 2008, researchers found that 37 percent of more than 11,000 crash deaths during that four-year span were drivers aged 16 or 17 -- that's over 4,000 teenagers who died in car and truck accidents.

While fatal traffic crashes involving teens had declined about 36 percent, many states' law enforcement officials, including North Carolina's, have become concerned with the number of impaired and distracted driving auto accidents.

On March 19, 2011, police in Greenville, North Carolina, responded to a single-car accident involving three teenagers who were injured when their SUV lost control and rolled over. The police investigation revealed that the teen driver was speeding, going 65 mph on a 35-mph road. One of the teens was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle when it rolled over.

A day earlier, five teens were involved in a serious auto accident near Greenwood Cemetery. The driver crossed the center line and ran off the road, leaving one passenger dead and two seriously injured. The driver walked away from the accident, unharmed. Police later charged the teen driver with impaired driving and other infractions.

That same week, a East Carolina University student was charged with two counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle for a November accident in which she was involved. After falling asleep at the wheel, the young woman lost control of her vehicle, hit a tree and killed two sorority sisters.

For North Carolina law enforcement, concerns are not about inexperienced drivers, so much as about distracted, impaired and drowsy driving. Distracted and impaired driving is about more than cell phones and alcohol. It's about inattention that results in risky driver behavior and often leads to fatal auto accidents.

While many states have instituted stiff penalties for some forms of distracted driving, younger drivers continue to disregard the dangers. However, following these North Carolina incidents, young drivers should be on notice that their risky driving behavior can injure and kill innocent people.

Press Release Contact Information:

Findlaw PR