'Tree of life' honors victims of North Carolina car crashes

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The lights in downtown Raleigh serve as a painful reminder for some.

On the Tree of Life in front of the State Capitol, there are 1,686 lights, each of them representing someone who lost their lives on state roads in 2023.

Of those crashes, 377 involved impaired driving. One crash also took the life of an officer in Forsyth County.

Over a year later the pain never goes away.

Elijah Jayden Hawkins-Maynor was a talented UNC student who had his life cut short at just 22-years-old.

In October 2023, Elijah was a passenger in a car going 113 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone on Page Road in Durham, before sliding across a median, hitting a tree and landing upside down

Three people in the car were injured including the driver, who is now facing multiple charges, but Elijah didn't make it.

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His parents still think about his final moments

"We thank God that Elijah had a personal relationship that in his time of trouble he prayed," his mom Rosalind said.

Rosalind and her husband Almer said they don't have any anger towards the driver, but they hope this holiday people stay safe, and hope their story can serve as a lesson - from speeding to distracted or impaired driving, these losses are avoidable.

"What we try to talk about is, the decisions that you make have consequences; just be mindful, be very thoughtful and support one another so that we never have any tragedies like this moving forward," Almer said.

Each year recently, the numbers of deaths on North Carolina roads have been trending down, but the state says there's more work to do.

"We've got to enforce tough laws but we also have new technology that can make a difference," said Mark Ezzell with the Governor's Highway Safety Program.