Sharon Stine said poor road conditions including steep lips and uneven lanes should be fixed near construction sites on 17-bypass between Murrells Inlet and Litchfield, after two of her friends died in single-vehicle wrecks within a week, less than a mile apart.
Skid marks and small pieces of the vehicle Melissa Kirk was driving are all that remain from the ride home from her 46th birthday celebration early last Thursday morning.
Friends say Kirk drove over a steep lip on the bypass, over corrected, flipped several times and died.
Just one week earlier, her friend Gary Barnett rolled over an uneven split in the road on the opposite side of the bypass, hit his head, and later died at Waccamaw Hospital.
“Gary was like my brother. I've known him since I moved here seven years ago. And, Melissa called me mom,” said Stine.
Stine is now calling on public safety officials to add warning signs near construction areas where the roads are uneven and have steep drops.
“Let’s do something to make it right. Let's make these roads correct. Both of these people were residents here. They traveled these roads. They knew them and they killed them,” said Stine.
Stine says there are no warning signs near where the accidents happened and she says the lips on the sides of the roads are nearly impossible to see at night and both accidents happened after dark.
“If you cross one road to cross 17, you're going to go over bumps where there's all this uneven pavement and it's not from wear and tear. It's from construction. There are totally parallel lines that are uneven and you go into a ditch. There's no warnings. Nothing,” said Stine.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol says the road conditions may have factored into the wrecks but it's impossible to determine the cause of the wrecks because both were single vehicle crashes.
Though she may never know exactly how her best friends died, Stine says more street lights and warning signs should be added on the bypass to keep people safe.
“I'm hoping we can save one life by doing this. To lose two friends...if we can save one life by doing this, we'll accomplish something,” Stine said.
Despite a drop in road deaths over the past few years, AAA still says South Carolina has the third highest rate of deadly wrecks in the nation.
Horry and Georgetown counties have seen an increase this year. That includes a stretch of Highway 17 between Litchfield and Murrells Inlet.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement