York County traffic deaths have already surpassed number from 2015

With five months remaining in 2016, York County has already surpassed the total number of traffic fatalities it saw during all of last year. And the number keeps ticking upward.

From January 1 through July 15, 2015, York County had nine traffic fatalities, according to preliminary numbers provided by the S.C. Department of Public Safety. Through July 15 of this year, York County recorded 21 fatalities – three more than the 18 total deaths in 2015.

The deaths so far this year include motor vehicle drivers and passengers, motorcyclists, pedestrians and a moped driver. Three more people died July 23 in separate crashes in York and Fort Mill.

Lance Cpl. Gary Miller of the S.C. Highway Patrol could not speculate on potential causes behind the sharp increase. Some of the crashes from this year are still under investigation.

“York is the fastest growing county in the state,” he said. “The amount of traffic we have going through there, people have to be responsible.”

While investigating fatal crashes, officers are careful to note specific things about each collision including the time of day, the type of roadway, weather and road conditions, seat belt use and the involvement of drugs or alcohol. These data, in addition to tickets written by officers, are then reported to the Office of Highway Safety, which analyzes the numbers to determine what areas law enforcement needs to target.

“If we start seeing a trend where we’re having collisions in this particular area of York County, we try to have officers in those areas at those times,” Miller said.

Travel experts maintain that record-low gas prices are contributing somewhat to increased collisions and fatalities by prompting more people to drive.

“When you have gas prices the lowest they’ve been for the summer driving season in 11 years, you’re going to have more folks on the road taking those close-to-home trips,” said Tiffany Wright, a spokeswoman for AAA of the Carolinas. She added that distracted driving continues to be a factor in crashes.

“You’ve got more folks now that are connected to their mobile devices,” she said. “And that’s leading to, unfortunately, more collisions.”

Miller says distracted driving is one of four common factors troopers find in fatal crashes, along with speed, lack of seat belt use and impaired driving.

York County is bucking a statewide trend of lower fatalities. As of Friday, traffic deaths in South Carolina were down slightly – 522 compared to 546 a year ago.

‘It comes down to personal responsibility’

The increase in traffic fatalities locally this year follows an uptick in deaths statewide and nationally in 2015. Preliminary data released earlier this month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show a 7.7 percent increase in traffic fatalities from 32,675 in 2014 to around 35,200 in 2015.

“As the economy has improved and gas prices have fallen, more Americans are driving more miles,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said in a release. “But that only explains part of the increase. Ninety-four percent of crashes can be tied back to a human choice or error, so we know we need to focus our efforts on improving human behavior while promoting vehicle technology that not only protects people in crashes, but helps prevent crashes in the first place.”

Department of Public Safety Director Leroy Smith said during a House Legislative Oversight Subcommittee meeting earlier this month that 2015 was “a very tough year” for the state with traffic fatalities.

State officials say a lower number of troopers on the roads – the number of full-time troopers in South Carolina dipped to 760 in 2015 – along with other factors such as lower gas prices and distracted driving made roadways more dangerous.

Additionally, Smith said, troopers had to be pulled from the road to assist in several events, including multiple rallies at the Statehouse in the weeks leading up to the removal of the Confederate battle flag; the aftermath of the Emanuel AME mass shooting; the funeral of Sen. Clementa Pinckney at the Statehouse; and October’s historic floods.

A new class that started July 15 will bring the Highway Patrol’s force to 841 troopers once they graduate, Smith said.

Seeing officers on the roadways prompts motorists to do a “self check” and make sure they’re wearing their seat belts, obeying the speed limit and keeping a safe following distance, Miller says. But no matter how many troopers the Highway Patrol adds, eventually the the responsibility falls on individual drivers.

Checking those basic things and staying alert while driving will help put the brakes on a rising number of fatalities, he says.

“It comes down to personal responsibility – how people are driving when you get behind the wheel of a car,” he said. “It’s a huge responsibility when you take a 2,000-pound machine down the road at 60 mph. If you get careless or complacent, by the time you realize you’re in trouble, it’s too late.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 4:42 PM with the headline "York County traffic deaths have already surpassed number from 2015."