Shoes and a candlelight vigil to remember those killed on North Carolina roads
Each pair of shoes was different: sneakers, Crocs, slip-ons, tiny sandals with velcro straps, Converse high tops and a pair of puddle boots with dinosaurs on them.
Their presence in the parking lot of the State Highway Patrol office in West Raleigh was symbolic: one pair for each of the 165 North Carolinians under the age of 20 killed in car crashes last year.
The occasion was the World Day of Remembrance, held on the third Sunday of November each year to acknowledge people killed on streets and highways. Similar events took place in Charlotte and Durham and in cities around the country, to remember the more than 40,000 Americans killed in crashes every year.
Organizers of the Raleigh event, the N.C. Alliance for Safe Transportation, focused on young people to highlight a new teen ambassador program. The advocacy group has teamed up with the N.C. High School Athletic Association to enlist teens willing to share a message of safe driving with their peers.
“Sometimes as parents, as caregivers, they don’t necessarily listen to us,” said Tiffany Wright of AAA Carolinas, co-chair of the alliance board. “So we think one of the best methods is teens talking to teens.”
More than 100 teens have signed up since the program was introduced in late October, Wright said. One of them is Aylin McGowan, a junior at Carrboro High School and member of the cross-country and track teams.
McGowan said her message is that athletes don’t compete without the right equipment and without following the rules. And they play free of distractions or impairments, just as drivers should never text or drive under the influence.
“These are the little things that make all the difference. In athletics, we take them for granted; they’re common practice,” she said. “Unfortunately, these little things that make the road safer for everyone every day are not commonplace today, particularly for many teen drivers. My hope is that we can change this.”
Highway fatalities spiked and remain high
The number of people killed on North Carolina’s highways spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, rising 21% over a two-year period, to 1,783 in 2021.
In that respect, last year’s total of 1,686 highway deaths was an improvement, though still 216 more than in 2019.
The fatality rate, measured in the number of people killed per miles traveled, jumped 30% from 2019 to 2020. The rate has fallen from its peak, but at 1.38 deaths per 100,000 residents it is still 15% higher than in 2019.
Many of those deaths are preventable. State Sen. Jim Burgin, a Republican who represents Harnett, Lee and part of Sampson counties, says too many drivers are distracted by their phones. Burgin says he will again introduce a bill in January to ban the use of hand-held phones while driving, a measure that has failed to gain traction among lawmakers.
“When I look at these shoes, I see young people that are being held hostage by the phone,” Burgin said. “I want everybody to think about not only the person that’s not filling those shoes, but their brothers and sisters and all the loved ones who knew those 165 people. And it’s just amazing to me that we’ve not been able to pass a distracted driver bill.”
In Durham, the Day of Remembrance focused on local efforts to make the city’s streets safer, including the overhaul of a section of North Miami Boulevard to include a protected bike lane.
The events, sponsored by the city, the regional transportation planning organization and Bike Durham, ended with a candlelight vigil and a reading of the names of the 37 people killed in crashes in Durham since last November.
Bike Durham says there are a number of changes the city and state could make to improve safety on Durham streets, including converting one-way corridors such as Mangum and Roxboro streets to two-way traffic.
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Shoes and a candlelight vigil to remember those killed on North Carolina roads."
