Fatal RoadsSearch

Edition: FARS 2024, annual fileNHTSA released it on Release dates

North Carolina fatal crashes in 1985

FARS records 1,482 deaths in 1,332 fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1985.

In 1984 it records 1,450 deaths in 1,291 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in North Carolina rose by 2.2% from 1984 to 1985. In the United States they fell by 1.0%.

In 1985, a driver was recorded as drinking in 40.5% of fatal crashes in North Carolina and 40.3% in the United States.

To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash.

The set of first files, known as the Annual Report File (ARF), is released following the crash year. The ARF is replaced about a year later with a final file, which contains additional cases or updates to cases that had become available after the ARF was released.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on .

This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years. Release dates

1985 beside 1984

Table 1.North Carolina in 1985, in 1984 and the United States in 1985
FigureNorth Carolina, 1985North Carolina, 1984United States, 1985
Deaths1,4821,45043,825
Fatal crashes1,3321,29139,196
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking54056415,777

Note: this site has no rate for the years before 2000.

Note: FARS records a driver as drinking when police reported alcohol involvement or a test of the driver was positive for alcohol. It is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure. NHTSA's definitions

For the years before 2015 the count is from the FARS element DRUNK_DR. It counts a blood alcohol concentration of .01 g/dL or more. From 2015 the count is from DR_DRINK and counts .001 g/dL or more.

Counties in 1985

Table 2.North Carolina: counties with a fatal crash in 1985, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Alamance County2222
Alexander County1313
Anson County44
Ashe County31 or 2
Avery County43
Beaufort County1010
Bertie County1010
Bladen County33
Brunswick County1912
Buncombe County2321
Burke County2623
Cabarrus County1615
Caldwell County1313
Camden County1 or 21 or 2
Carteret County119
Caswell County77
Catawba County2724
Chatham County2420
Cherokee County65
Chowan County43
Clay County1 or 21 or 2
Cleveland County1815
Columbus County1615
Craven County1614
Cumberland County5550
Currituck County86
Dare County55
Davidson County2926
Davie County66
Duplin County1310
Durham County2626
Edgecombe County1414
Forsyth County2928
Franklin County77
Gaston County3330
Gates County44
Graham County1 or 21 or 2
Granville County1010
Greene County158
Guilford County5350
Halifax County2120
Harnett County2925
Haywood County1312
Henderson County1414
Hertford County33
Hoke County44
Hyde County33
Iredell County2924
Jackson County33
Johnston County3228
Jones County1 or 21 or 2
Lee County1712
Lenoir County1212
Lincoln County1515
Macon County1 or 21 or 2
Madison County76
Martin County1212
McDowell County1111
Mecklenburg County5452
Mitchell County33
Montgomery County88
Moore County1814
Nash County2524
New Hanover County2219
Northampton County1111
Onslow County3128
Orange County1614
Pamlico County55
Pasquotank County33
Pender County77
Perquimans County1 or 21 or 2
Person County77
Pitt County2323
Polk County33
Randolph County3530
Richmond County1814
Robeson County4438
Rockingham County3126
Rowan County3226
Rutherford County1513
Sampson County1615
Scotland County55
Stanly County64
Stokes County1111
Surry County119
Swain County1 or 21 or 2
Transylvania County1 or 21 or 2
Union County1614
Vance County1212
Wake County7366
Warren County33
Washington County77
Watauga County65
Wayne County1615
Wilkes County1211
Wilson County2822
Yadkin County87
Yancey County1 or 21 or 2

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1985 is not in the table. A count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2".

Time of day and weekday

Table 3.North Carolina: fatal crashes by time of day, 1985
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.25819.4%
6 a.m. to noon23017.3%
Noon to 6 p.m.39829.9%
6 p.m. to midnight44333.3%
Table 4.North Carolina: fatal crashes by weekday, 1985
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday19414.6%
Monday18013.5%
Tuesday15411.6%
Wednesday13710.3%
Thursday17713.3%
Friday21916.4%
Saturday27120.3%

Note: the tables have the fatal crashes with a known hour or weekday.

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. North Carolina fatal crashes in 1985. https://fatalroads.com/state/north-carolina/1985/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to .

The address of this page does not change.

Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, national file of 1985. This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years. Residents: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, vintage 2025. Data to .

How the figures are made. Data sources and licences. Corrections.

Questions

Which file does the 1985 page use?

This site reads the years before 2015 from one fixed copy. It does not track later revisions of these years.

What part of the deaths in the United States in 1985 was in North Carolina?

North Carolina had 1,482 of the 43,825 deaths in the United States in 1985. That is 3.4 percent.

In how many counties of North Carolina did FARS record a fatal crash in 1985?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 98 counties of North Carolina in 1985.

How many fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1985 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 540 of 1,332 fatal crashes in 1985.