Charlotte · Crash numbers
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Traffic Crash Numbers for 2024
For 2024, the NCDMV's newest downloadable Crash Facts edition puts Charlotte above thirty thousand crashes, and its county table shows more Mecklenburg County deaths that year than in any of the ten years before it. Those figures describe a whole city and county. For your claim, the paperwork from your own crash tells me much more.
People killed in crashes, Mecklenburg County
| 2024 | 147 |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 117 |
| Yearly average, 2014 to 2023 | 109 |
The crash figures on this page all come from the NCDMV's 2024 edition of Crash Facts, the latest one posted for download by the agency. Digits stay in the tables, and the paragraphs carry what each number means to someone injured in Charlotte.
Below, Charlotte's 2024 row sits beside Concord, Gastonia, Cornelius and Davidson, followed by the city's alcohol, walking and cycling groups, eleven printed years of Mecklenburg County road deaths, the county's teen and school bus tables, the gaps in the city row, and what no crash total can show about one crash.
01
Charlotte's 2024 crash count beside Concord, Gastonia, Cornelius and Davidson
Charlotte's 2024 figures under the All heading of City Crash Data, Section 4 of the state's 2024 Traffic Crash Facts book, are 32,476 crashes, 140 fatalities and 15,388 injuries.
| City or town, 2024 | Crashes | Fatalities | Injuries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 32,476 | 140 | 15,388 |
| Gastonia | 3,479 | 18 | 1,018 |
| Concord | 3,347 | 11 | 1,264 |
| Cornelius | 566 | 0 | 132 |
| Davidson | 186 | 0 | 51 |
The book's statewide summary gives separate totals for persons killed, persons injured and crashes, so a crash figure is not a count of people.
Charlotte's crash total runs more than nine times the figure for Gastonia or for Concord. The gap in size between those cities is large too, and the city table does not adjust for population or for miles driven.
02
Pedestrian, bicycle and alcohol figures in Charlotte's 2024 row
Charlotte's 2024 row lists 418 pedestrian crashes with 38 fatalities and 422 injuries, 108 bicycle crashes with 4 fatalities and 109 injuries, and 778 alcohol crashes with 39 fatalities and 635 injuries.
| Charlotte, 2024 group | Crashes | Fatalities | Injuries |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | 32,476 | 140 | 15,388 |
| Alcohol | 778 | 39 | 635 |
| Pedestrian | 418 | 38 | 422 |
| Bicycle | 108 | 4 | 109 |
Pedestrian crashes are a small slice of Charlotte's crash total and carry 38 of the city's 140 deaths. I read that as a fact about the city's streets in 2024, and it decides nothing about who was careless in a particular crash.
Exception. City Crash Data does not say whether one Charlotte crash is counted in two groups at once, such as a crash that involved both alcohol and a person on foot. Adding the three groups together gives no reliable figure for that reason.
03
Mecklenburg road deaths rose to their 2024 high
The 2024 edition's Fatalities by County: 10 Year Trend table lists 147 people killed in Mecklenburg County crashes in 2024, the highest figure among the eleven years it prints. The county's 10 Year Average, as printed, is 109, which equals the 2014 through 2023 values averaged, so 2024 sits outside it.
| Year | Mecklenburg County fatalities as printed |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 69 |
| 2015 | 81 |
| 2016 | 102 |
| 2017 | 109 |
| 2018 | 116 |
| 2019 | 94 |
| 2020 | 125 |
| 2021 | 138 |
| 2022 | 139 |
| 2023 | 117 |
| 2024 | 147 |
| 10 Year Average, as printed | 109 |
The row is a county figure, so it reaches past Charlotte, and the county's municipalities page names seven towns along with Charlotte. Behind every number in that row is a person someone loved. When a Mecklenburg County crash has cost a family someone, our wrongful death page describes how that kind of claim works.
04
Teen and school bus crashes in Mecklenburg County during 2024
The 2024 Teen Data By County table lists 5,654 crashes in Mecklenburg County with 14 fatalities and 1,335 injuries. The book's teen summary covers ages 15 to 19 and says teen data counts only drivers and passengers in motor vehicles, which leaves out pedestrians and bicyclists.
| Mecklenburg County table, 2024 | Crashes | Fatalities | Injuries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teen data, county table | 5,654 | 14 | 1,335 |
| School bus, county table | 182 | 0 | 126 |
The book's 2024 county table for school bus crashes lists 182 for Mecklenburg County, with no fatalities and 126 injuries. That table gives no count for Charlotte by itself.
The teen and school bus counts are county figures. City Crash Data gives Charlotte no separate teen or school bus column.
05
What Charlotte's city row leaves undefined, and where 2025 stands
City Crash Data prints Charlotte's name and twelve figures. Nothing in the table explains which crashes count as Charlotte crashes, and it breaks nothing down by road, hour or vehicle type, so a crash on I-77 inside Charlotte gets no line of its own.
What Charlotte's row counts
Crashes, fatalities and injuries, each under the headings All, Pedestrian, Bicycle and Alcohol, which makes twelve figures in a single row.
What Charlotte's row leaves out
Fault, road names, times and vehicle types, along with any explanation of where a crash near a town line gets counted.
Charlotte's 2025 figures and the NCDMV email request
For the 2025 edition, NCDMV's Crash Facts web page asks readers to email operations-support@ncdot.gov, and the archive's latest posted book is the 2024 edition. This page carries no 2025 row for Charlotte for that reason.
Exception. Charlotte's population figure, 964,784 residents on July 1, 2025, comes from the U.S. Census Bureau and not from the crash book, and it measures a different year from the 2024 crash counts.
06
What a Charlotte crash count cannot prove about your own crash
Charlotte's crash totals are the counts printed beside the city's name in 2024's City Crash Data. They contain no finding about who caused any of those crashes, and in my judgment a city total is background and never proof of fault.
In my judgment a city total is background and never proof of fault.
For a Charlotte claim, your own crash report and the witnesses to that crash matter more to me than any citywide count. A free copy of the CMPD report is a good first piece of paper to have.
The Charlotte crash report page shows where a CMPD report costs nothing, and the Charlotte city page walks through how a first conversation leads to an in-person visit.
Questions
Common questions
Does Charlotte's crash count include Mint Hill or Matthews?
Mint Hill and Matthews are separate towns, and City Crash Data prints its rows by city name. The table says nothing about where a crash near a town line gets counted, so the 2024 book does not settle whether a crash at the edge of either town landed in Charlotte's figures.
Why is Mecklenburg County's death count higher than Charlotte's?
The figure of 147 comes from the 10 year county fatality trend table and covers Mecklenburg County as a whole, where the county lists Charlotte and seven towns as municipalities. Charlotte's 140 comes from the separate City Crash Data table and covers the Charlotte row only, so the county figure runs higher.
Does the 2024 book count I-77 crashes in Charlotte separately?
No. Charlotte's row in City Crash Data gives one set of figures for the whole city, divided only into the four groups the table prints. That row gives no separate count for I-77 or I-277, and the table's rows are named for cities rather than roads.
About the attorney
Julian Doby, attorney since 1998
Julian Doby has been admitted to practice in North Carolina since 1998, North Carolina State Bar No. 25407, and he represents injured people across the state. His one office is at 110 W. Elm Street in Graham. He meets clients across the state after a first conversation by phone or video.
More about JulianSources and verification (8)
- NCDMV, North Carolina 2024 Traffic Crash Facts, Section 4 City Data, City Crash Data (page 26 per the table of contents), verified October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Charlotte city, North Carolina, Population estimates, July 1, 2025, (V2025), verified October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Concord city, North Carolina, V2025, verified October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Gastonia city, North Carolina, V2025, verified October 18, 2026.
- Mecklenburg County, Municipalities, verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDMV, Crash Facts and Reporting page (2025 report by email request), verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDMV, Crash Facts Archive, verified October 18, 2026.
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Records, verified October 18, 2026.
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