Fatal RoadsSearch

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

North Carolina fatal crashes in 1986

FARS records 1,647 deaths in 1,489 fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1986.

In 1985 it records 1,482 deaths in 1,332 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in North Carolina rose by 11.1% from 1985 to 1986. In the United States they rose by 5.2%.

In 1986, a driver was recorded as drinking in 46.7% of fatal crashes in North Carolina and 42.5% 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

1986 beside 1985

Table 1.North Carolina in 1986, in 1985 and the United States in 1986
FigureNorth Carolina, 1986North Carolina, 1985United States, 1986
Deaths1,6471,48246,087
Fatal crashes1,4891,33241,090
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking69554017,478

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 1986

Table 2.North Carolina: counties with a fatal crash in 1986, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Alamance County1515
Alexander County76
Alleghany County1 or 21 or 2
Anson County77
Ashe County33
Avery County55
Beaufort County1612
Bertie County108
Bladen County1010
Brunswick County2621
Buncombe County2927
Burke County2016
Cabarrus County2217
Caldwell County1413
Carteret County129
Caswell County119
Catawba County2625
Chatham County2017
Cherokee County54
Chowan County33
Clay County33
Cleveland County2322
Columbus County3229
Craven County1616
Cumberland County4140
Currituck County107
Dare County88
Davidson County2624
Davie County33
Duplin County108
Durham County2828
Edgecombe County1514
Forsyth County4338
Franklin County98
Gaston County3433
Gates County107
Graham County1 or 21 or 2
Granville County1513
Greene County33
Guilford County6964
Halifax County1613
Harnett County3231
Haywood County1111
Henderson County1413
Hertford County1615
Hoke County66
Hyde County1 or 21 or 2
Iredell County1716
Jackson County128
Johnston County4236
Jones County86
Lee County1514
Lenoir County1916
Lincoln County1514
Macon County66
Madison County1 or 21 or 2
Martin County66
McDowell County1211
Mecklenburg County8881
Mitchell County33
Montgomery County44
Moore County1717
Nash County3128
New Hanover County1716
Northampton County1110
Onslow County3833
Orange County2318
Pamlico County43
Pasquotank County55
Pender County109
Perquimans County1 or 21 or 2
Person County66
Pitt County1715
Polk County1 or 21 or 2
Randolph County3128
Richmond County1412
Robeson County4544
Rockingham County3129
Rowan County2323
Rutherford County2118
Sampson County2923
Scotland County1918
Stanly County55
Stokes County1712
Surry County1414
Swain County1 or 21 or 2
Transylvania County1 or 21 or 2
Tyrrell County1 or 21 or 2
Union County2321
Vance County1915
Wake County7063
Warren County87
Washington County64
Watauga County77
Wayne County1817
Wilkes County2119
Wilson County2120
Yadkin County77
Yancey County33

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1986 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, 1986
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.30320.4%
6 a.m. to noon26117.6%
Noon to 6 p.m.44430.0%
6 p.m. to midnight47432.0%
Table 4.North Carolina: fatal crashes by weekday, 1986
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday21714.6%
Monday18512.4%
Tuesday1479.9%
Wednesday18912.7%
Thursday17511.8%
Friday23415.7%
Saturday34223.0%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. North Carolina fatal crashes in 1986. https://fatalroads.com/state/north-carolina/1986/. 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 1986. 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 1986 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 1986 was in North Carolina?

North Carolina had 1,647 of the 46,087 deaths in the United States in 1986. That is 3.6 percent.

In how many counties of North Carolina did FARS record a fatal crash in 1986?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 99 counties of North Carolina in 1986.

How many fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1986 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 695 of 1,489 fatal crashes in 1986.