Articles Posted in Auto & Car Accidents

Progressive budget cuts over the past three years have reduced the number of South Carolina state troopers by 20 percent. Now interim Highway Patrol Director Lt. Col. Mike Oliver says it’s time to reverse some of the cuts in the name of public safety. He is requesting an additional 40 troopers to increase DUI arrests and improve collision response.

“[Current reduced trooper levels] may mean a longer wait time for us to respond to a collision. We certainly respond as quick as we can to clear the roadway and investigate their collisions, but more troopers certainly gives us the ability to do that quicker,” Oliver said in a report on WSPA-TV in Spartanburg.

Director Leroy Smith of the Department of Public Safety said he believes increased troop levels would also prevent trooper fatigue and help retention rates.

South Carolina pedestrian deaths have increased sharply this year. At a recent press conference, S.C. Highway Patrol Capt. Brad Hughes highlighted the 24% increase in pedestrian deaths, from 81 this time last year to 101 so far in 2011. Lexington County and Columbia in particular saw large increases in fatal pedestrian accidents.

So far, South Carolina has responded by placing the burden on pedestrians to be more car-conscious. The state implemented a program called SEE, an acronym for “Stop, Educate and Enforce,” under which officers stop to warn pedestrians in dangerous situations. Pedestrians with their back to traffic, intoxicated, or wearing dark colors are especially vulnerable. While the program has reached 2,900 pedestrians this year, there has been no measurable improvement in pedestrian safety.

This comes as no surprise to our South Carolina accident attorneys; in any car-pedestrian accident, the pedestrian is the vulnerable party and the person likely to suffer serious, even fatal injuries.

Seven people died in South Carolina traffic accidents over this Thanksgiving weekend compared to three in 2010. Fatal accidents increased despite an amped up police presence designed to catch speeders and drunk drivers. Even troopers normally assigned to administrative duty were required to patrol South Carolina highways. Of the seven victims, one was a motorcyclist, and five others were not wearing a seatbelt.

One of the victims was a 55-year-old man who crashed into a tree in a residential neighborhood and was dead by the time emergency responders arrived. A woman was struck by a drunk driver as she stood beside her daughter’s disabled vehicle. A 47-year-old woman died when her car ran off the road and flipped on US 17 in Waccamaw Neck. Another fatal accident claimed the life of a 13-year-old girl in Anderson County.

AAA Carolinas had projected an eight percent increase in travelers on South Carolina’s roads this holiday season. The estimated number of travelers, 611,000, represents nearly 49,000 more people compared to 2010. This increase may have contributed to the increase in fatal accidents.

South Carolina has some of the worst drivers in the country, ranking 10th in bad drivers in a new Car Insurance Comparison report. Though South Carolina was ranked third in careful drivers, this didn’t translate to good driving. The state has one of the highest rates of fatalities per million miles, failure to obey traffic signs, ticketing, and drunk driving. The high traffic fatality rates played a significant role in increasing South Carolina’s bad ranking.

Car Insurance Comparison used statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the American Motorists Association, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. They found that southern states and states with high rural to metropolitan ratios tended to fare worse in the bad driver ranking. Rural roads have historically been more dangerous than urban ones with as much as 80% of fatal traffic accidents occurring on rural roads. Enforcement on rural roads is more financially and logistically challenging than in condense urban areas.

Perversely, though South Carolina ranks high in bad driving, in 2010 Forbes called South Carolina the best state to drive in for its low gas and insurance prices. An emphasis on motorist rights and a sixth-best ranking for infrastructure also make it a good place for driving, though safe driving is another concern.

Ridgeland Mayor Gary Hodges was ousted from office, a year after he publicly supported the installation of speeding cameras on I-95. The policy drew the ire of the state which promptly banned the cameras. South Carolina has a long history of resisting new traffic safety initiatives under the banner of “motorist rights.” The state was one of the last to implement drunk driving laws.

Hodges was mayor for four years. He led the implementation of cameras on 1-95 to catch, as he said, mostly out of town speeders. The cameras were the only ones in effect outside of construction zones along the east coast. The cameras were activated once a car approached speeds of 81 miles per hour. It then took photos of the front and rear of the car in order to send the owner a speeding ticket via mail. Though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and high-profile safety advocates applauded Hodges’ efforts, the state legislature and the general public grew angry with him.

Last December, Hodges told WISTV 10, “This is all about changing driver behavior through our section of responsibility. It’s working so we’re not trying to put anyone in jail or do anything like that. We’re just trying to get your attention and apparently, what we’re doing is working cause they are certainly slowing down, the accidents are less, the fatalities are zero, what else can we do to show the thing is working..

After South Carolina banned the use of traffic cameras to enforce speeding and red light laws this summer, a 13-person commission was supposed to meet to study the ethical and legal issues with camera use. An amendment to the ban required the commission– to be made up of legal, enforcement, and government representatives– to report their findings by November 1st. The commission never met. No meeting was ever called. Most of the blame for the commission’s failure to meet was placed on the lack of an appointed chairperson.

Traffic cameras are highly contentious in South Carolina. The ban on traffic camera use was enacted after the town of Ridgefield attempted to use the cameras to catch out-of-state speeders traveling down seven miles of Interstate 95. AAA Carolinas, citing South Carolina’s poor history with traffic safety, endorsed the cameras. However, the town was told its plan was illegal based on a 2006 general attorney ruling and 2009 law that effectively disallows photo enforcement. After the summer’s ban, the town abandoned their efforts to install traffic cameras.

A slim majority of states, 52%, use cameras to enforce speeding and/or red light laws, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Opponents of the cameras in other states have brought suits questioning the legality of the cameras. IIHS, however, supports the cameras, citing the dangers inherent in having a police car stop another vehicle in dense or high-speed areas and the impossibility of having police provide complete around-the-clock surveillance.

AAA Carolinas has singled out three South Carolina towns for excellence in traffic safety. Hanahan, Mount Pleasant, and Cameron have received the 2011 Traffic Safe Community of the Year award for their respective population size. The awards are given based on innovation in education and social media efforts, crash statistics, number of law enforcement officers per capita, their traffic safety program, and the presence of a special traffic division.

Mount Pleasant won the award for the third year in a row in the largest population category. Because traffic accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths in South Carolina, Mount Pleasant’s youth outreach efforts were especially lauded. This year and last year they were applauded for their middle, elementary, and high school education projects on topics like pedestrian, bicycle, and driver safety.

Despite the awards, Tom Crosby, president of AAA Carolinas, points out that South Carolina has a long way to go to improve traffic safety. “South Carolina continues to have a disproportionate number of fatalities at 1.6 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, according to preliminary data for last year. Traditionally, this rate is among the highest in the nation..

Six of the seven traffic fatalities in South Carolina on the weekend of October 14th were of pedestrians and motorcyclists according to the Department of Public Safety. From six p.m. Friday to midnight Sunday, four motorcyclists and two pedestrians died on non-Interstate roads, and one other person died on the interstate.

South Carolina’s traffic fatality rates are higher than this time last year. To date, 658 people have died so far in 2011 while 647 died in 2010. Of the fatalities in 2011, approximately 29% have involved pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists. About 94% of those deaths were pedestrians and motorcyclists in near-equal parts. Though South Carolina’s pedestrian death rate declined in 2009, as quoted by the NHTSA, the state is ranked as one of the “Top Five” worst states of per capita deaths to pedestrians.

The deadliest county for traffic accidents in South Carolina remains Greenville. From 2008 to 2011, with 186 deaths, Greenville has experienced the most traffic fatalities. It has been the top offender every year except 2009, where it had the second highest number of deaths. Greenville is the most populated county in South Carolina.

After three years of steady decline, the number of people dying in traffic accidents has increased in South Carolina. The Department of Public Safety said that 593 people have died between January and September 2011, a twenty person increase from this time last year.

Most accidents involved the deaths of a person in a vehicle, but nearly 28% or 160 deaths were of pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists involved in vehicle accidents. Greenville County leads the state in the number of traffic fatalities. Agency representatives blamed good weather for leading SC residents to abandon their cars and walk or ride their motorcycles.

Tom Crosby, vice president for AAA of the Carolinas, however, believes the state’s approach to traffic safety is at fault. Crosby points to South Carolina’s history of easing driving rules and its recent refusal to limit cell phone use and texting for drivers.

A recent report shows that South Carolina had the highest rate of traffic fatalities on rural roads in the United States, ranking significantly above heavily rural states like Texas or Florida.

TRIP, the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that produced the report, found that there were 4.7 deaths per 100 million miles of travel in 2009 in South Carolina. During 2009, 791 people died on South Carolina’s rural roads.

On why rural roads are particularly dangerous, the report says, “Inadequate roadway safety design, longer emergency vehicle response times and the higher speeds traveled on rural roads compared to urban roads are factors in the higher traffic fatality rate found on rural, non-Interstate routes..