'100 deadliest days of summer' mark time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, DOT says
Memorial Day marks the beginning of a very dangerous time of the road, known as the 100 deadliest days of summer.
Department of Transportation officials said the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is when there's a significant spike in deadly crashes. A majority of those crashes involve teenagers.
Warmer temperatures, schools being out and more vacations mean more cars on the road.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 are three times more likely than drivers ages 20 and older to be involved in a deadly crash.
Stephanie Ronan was almost killed by a drunk driver in September 2018. She suffered a rare internal decapitation among other injuries. Now, she and other advocates are reminding everyone to be more vigilant, especially in the summer months.
"It's just really important for parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of driving impaired and to take precautions," Ronan said. "Because even my own child that drives I'm not necessarily worried about her, it's everyone else. It's more people on the road, there's more travel, people are taking more vacations. I don't want anyone else to have to go through this."
In North Carolina, according to the NCDOT, 12,264 crashes were alcohol-related in 2021 and 374 were fatal.
