Police Seek Suspect in Deadly Hit-and-Run Collision in Laurinburg, North Carolina

LAURINBURG, NC- Wbtw.com writes that state troopers are seeking the driver of a white Chevy van who is a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred earlier this week. Police say that the victim was a 51-year-old woman who was struck by the van early in the morning on Highway 74 Business close to Highland Drive.*

Troopers say that the vehicle is believed to be a white 2011 Chevrolet Express van. 

A report by the AAA states that hit-and-run crashes are on the rise across the United States. In 2016, the most recent year that the study looked at, 2,049 people died in crashes where the driver fled the scene. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that more people died in hit-and-run crashes in 2016 than at any point since 1975, which is when the Administration started keeping track of such data. The number of overall hit-and-run collisions also increased, and estimates indicate that 737,100 such crashes occurred, though these include accidents that only led to property damage. The worst states for hit-and-run crashes were New Mexico, Louisiana, and Florida.

The AAA says that trying to develop a profile for hit-and-run drivers is challenging because so many of them are never caught or identified. However, the information the agency does have indicates that these drivers are often young, male, have histories of driving under the influence or license suspensions, and are usually drunk at the time of the crashes. Studies indicate that drivers who flee after an accident are anywhere from two to nine times as likely to be drunk than drivers who do not leave the scene.

The victims in these crashes are most often pedestrians who are walking at night. 

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Sources:https://www.wbtw.com/news/troopers-search-for-chevy-van/ and https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18-0058_Hit-and-Run-Brief_FINALv2.pdf