Traffic fatalities decreased in Edgecombe County, North Carolina and across the nation in 2008, as gas cost more than $4 per gallon for a while last year.

Edgecombe County saw five traffic fatalities in 2008, compared with 11 deaths in 2007 and in 2006, according to the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

Highway Patrol 1st Sgt. Martin Jones said he thinks "people quit driving as much" because of the high gas prices, leaving North Carolina with 299 fewer traffic deaths in 2008 compared to 2007; 1,406 in 2008 and 1,705 in 2007.

Though Edgecombe saw fewer traffic deaths in 2008, there have already been four vehicle deaths within Edgecombe County in 2009, the latest on March 7 on Fishing Creek Road.

Edward Direll Hill, 20, of Hobgood died March 7, after the 1999 Chevy truck he was riding in ran off Fishing Creek Road, striking a ditch and then hitting two trees, once while it was airborne, the Highway Patrol reported.

Demetrius Darnell Bess Jr., 17, of Hobgood was driving the truck, with Timothy Dorrell Whitehead, 18, of Scotland Neck the third passenger in the truck, when the accident was reported at 10:31 p.m.

Highway Patrol spokeswoman Mary Lou Collins said all three had been drinking alcohol, and that Hill was not wearing his seatbelt when the truck crashed, although he was not thrown from the truck.

Bess and Whitehead were taken to Heritage Hospital, but Hill died at the scene, Collins said. Bess and Whitehead had been wearing their seatbelts, she added.

Hill is the first alcohol-related traffic fatality in Edgecombe County this year.

There were 392 alcohol-related fatalities in North Carolina in 2008, down from 489 in 2007.

Two of Edgecombe County's other fatalities occurred on N.C. 97 between Leggett and Rocky Mount.