Fatal RoadsSearch

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

North Carolina fatal crashes in 1988

FARS records 1,573 deaths in 1,400 fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1988.

In 1987 it records 1,584 deaths in 1,416 fatal crashes.

This site gives no rate for the years before 2000.

Deaths in North Carolina fell by 0.7% from 1987 to 1988. In the United States they rose by 1.5%.

In 1988, a driver was recorded as drinking in 43.9% of fatal crashes in North Carolina and 40.1% 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

1988 beside 1987

Table 1.North Carolina in 1988, in 1987 and the United States in 1988
FigureNorth Carolina, 1988North Carolina, 1987United States, 1988
Deaths1,5731,58447,087
Fatal crashes1,4001,41642,130
Deaths for each 100,000 residentsn/an/an/a
Fatal crashes with a driver recorded as drinking61467916,912

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 1988

Table 2.North Carolina: counties with a fatal crash in 1988, in name order
CountyDeathsFatal crashes
Alamance County2622
Alexander County1110
Alleghany County1 or 21 or 2
Anson County1512
Ashe County44
Avery County33
Beaufort County1313
Bertie County1311
Bladen County1513
Brunswick County1615
Buncombe County3227
Burke County2320
Cabarrus County1917
Caldwell County1919
Camden County1 or 21 or 2
Carteret County77
Caswell County1 or 21 or 2
Catawba County2827
Chatham County1511
Cherokee County33
Chowan County1 or 21 or 2
Cleveland County1411
Columbus County3527
Craven County1412
Cumberland County3531
Currituck County75
Dare County33
Davidson County2019
Davie County66
Duplin County1212
Durham County2020
Edgecombe County99
Forsyth County2828
Franklin County1917
Gaston County3532
Gates County54
Granville County2018
Greene County33
Guilford County6357
Halifax County2821
Harnett County3228
Haywood County1515
Henderson County1414
Hertford County88
Hoke County66
Iredell County3227
Jackson County65
Johnston County4437
Jones County65
Lee County1311
Lenoir County1716
Lincoln County1614
Macon County66
Madison County1 or 21 or 2
Martin County1111
McDowell County1715
Mecklenburg County6862
Mitchell County1 or 21 or 2
Montgomery County2014
Moore County1110
Nash County2016
New Hanover County1212
Northampton County1212
Onslow County2726
Orange County1414
Pamlico County33
Pasquotank County77
Pender County98
Perquimans County1 or 21 or 2
Person County119
Pitt County2219
Polk County41 or 2
Randolph County4032
Richmond County1915
Robeson County5342
Rockingham County1918
Rowan County2521
Rutherford County1513
Sampson County2221
Scotland County1514
Stanly County1615
Stokes County99
Surry County2117
Swain County1 or 21 or 2
Transylvania County1 or 21 or 2
Union County2622
Vance County1313
Wake County5854
Warren County65
Washington County1 or 21 or 2
Watauga County66
Wayne County1919
Wilkes County2119
Wilson County1915
Yadkin County109
Yancey County1 or 21 or 2

Note: a county with no fatal crash in 1988 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, 1988
Time of dayFatal crashesShare
Midnight to 6 a.m.24317.4%
6 a.m. to noon25418.2%
Noon to 6 p.m.43130.9%
6 p.m. to midnight46933.6%
Table 4.North Carolina: fatal crashes by weekday, 1988
WeekdayFatal crashesShare
Sunday22015.7%
Monday16211.6%
Tuesday15110.8%
Wednesday17012.1%
Thursday17012.1%
Friday23416.7%
Saturday29320.9%

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. North Carolina fatal crashes in 1988. https://fatalroads.com/state/north-carolina/1988/. 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 1988. 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 1988 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 1988 was in North Carolina?

North Carolina had 1,573 of the 47,087 deaths in the United States in 1988. That is 3.3 percent.

In how many counties of North Carolina did FARS record a fatal crash in 1988?

FARS records one or more fatal crashes in 96 counties of North Carolina in 1988.

How many fatal crashes in North Carolina in 1988 had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 614 of 1,400 fatal crashes in 1988.