RALEIGH — The N.C. Highway Patrol says preliminary figures show five people died on North Carolina roads during the New Year's holiday, compared to four deaths during the same period last year.

The patrol counted deaths beginning Monday and going through midnight Wednesday. Three people died Tuesday in a wreck in Buncombe County, and one each in wrecks in Robeson and Duplin counties. The patrol says alcohol was a factor in the two single-person fatalities.

For the year, 899 people died in 846 wrecks.