DARLINGTON — The quiet, less traveled, country roads of the Palmetto State have proven to be the most fatal in traffic-related crashes, according to AAA Carolinas data released Tuesday on crashes tallied in the state in 2008.
Two Pee Dee counties — Chesterfield and Darlington — rank as two of the top five most dangerous counties for traffic fatalities, according to AAA.
Allendale, Barnwell and Edgefield also are ranked among the top five.
These counties account for 7 percent of all traffic-related deaths in 2008, though only 3 percent of the total miles traveled in the state are through those counties, according to AAA data.
Rural roads are often narrow with low shoulders, according to AAA officials. They also aren’t as heavily policed as interstates and more frequently traveled roadways.
Darlington County Sheriff’s Capt. Andy Locklair said while the majority of traffic crashes in his county are handled by S.C. Highway Patrol troopers, deputies in the take a proactive approach to patrolling the roads throughout the county.
“The ultimate responsibility falls in the hands of the driver,” he said. “You cannot allow yourself to be a victim of road conditions. You have to be a smart driver.”
It’s unfair to blame crashes on a road when that isn’t necessarily the problem, Locklair said. Most crashes are caused by driver error, he said.
As of Sunday, three people have died in traffic crashes in Darlington County, while two have died in Chesterfield County, S.C. Department of Public Safety data shows.
In 2008, the most recent year for AAA data, four people died in Chesterfield County in traffic crashes during the same time period.
There were two traffic fatalities in Darlington in the first three months of 2008, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Allendale County, located in the southwest portion of the state, is ranked as the deadliest county for fatalities per mile driven.
One in 18 crashes in Allendale County end in a fatality, according to AAA data.
South Carolina traffic deaths decreased by 14 percent in 2008 — the first time in four years there were fewer than 1,000 traffic deaths reported in the state, according to AAA.
“While there is still a lot of work to be done and much improvement to be made, I am pleased that we have experienced a decline in our state’s traffic fatalities,” S.C. Department of Public Safety Director Mark Keel said in a press release. He attributes the decline to the work of state and local law enforcement officials.
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