South Carolina Car Crashes: Still Too Many Fatalities in 2012

Do we develop a false sense of security as we become more experienced drivers? Most drivers seem to be relatively safety conscious. We duly take out our South Carolina car insurance. Most of us wear seat belts. We do our best to stay on the right side of the SC Highway Patrol and yet, fatalities are still a regular occurrence. In fact, according to the SC Department of Public Safety, year to date road fatalities had reached 372 as at 17 June 2012: slightly higher than at the same time last year.

Perhaps even more disconcerting are accidents like the one recently reported where a man standing by his broken down vehicle on the Interstate 20 was killed when another vehicle collided with his.

Of the 372 fatalities mentioned above, 45 were pedestrians, 11 were cyclists and 50 were on motorcycles. These groups are all particularly vulnerable on the roads and regardless of our perception of who has right of way at any time, we simply have to take extra care. It might be the case that some of those killed made errors of judgment. Perhaps driver distraction was a factor in others. No doubt many, if not all, were preventable.

There’s much more to being a responsible driver than ensuring we have the required level of South Carolina car insurance and buckling up for our own protection. It’s our duty to stay alert, avoid distractions and keep a safe distance from other road users.

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