Johnston County leads N.C. in auto-related teen deaths
The area's growth, combined with winding rural roads, may help explain why Johnston County leads the state in auto-related teen deaths, officials say.
Posted — Updated"It's just hard, just to see that they're both gone," said Baker's brother, Tyler, who was a fellow senior at Princeton with Stewart.
In the past year, Tyler Baker has also lost three other classmates in car accidents.
“Speed is the leading cause of these crashes,” Capt. Everett Clendenin of the state Highway Patrol said.
Johnston County law enforcement officials say the number of auto-related teen deaths is alarming. In 2007, the county led the state with 11 fatalities.
In comparison, neighboring Harnett County had two fatalities, while Wake and Wayne counties each had one. A senior and a junior from Green Hope High School in Cary died Nov. 7 in a crash in Chatham County.
“Everybody is saddened by this,” said Capt. Bengie Gaddis with the Johnston County Sheriff's Office. “We're not out there to rack up on charges and to write citations. We're out there to warn the kids to slow down and live."
The program has helped, and the message of safe driving is getting out, Gaddis said, but unwise driving is still a huge problem.
“We love our youth here in this community and we're gonna do everything in our power to keep them here with us," Gaddis said.
In the past, officers typically issued warnings and contacted parents when a student was caught speeding or driving carelessly. Now, Gaddis said, officers are issuing more citations to show how serious the issue is.
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