Yesterday, your Charleston trucking accident lawyers at Charleston’s Howell and Christmas, discussed some statistics concerning the number of deaths on South Carolina roads. Those stats were comparing the number of fatalities in recent years to those that have occurred so far in 2011. While the numbers suggest that this year is trending to be deadlier than the last, some officials feel the numbers are skewed by the relationship between more cars on the road during the summer, means more fatal car accidents. And it should be noted that motor vehicle accidents are down two percent this year from last. So if it isn’t the car and tractor trailer accidents that make 2011 appear to be more dangerous, then what is it? Well, according to the figures, it is a surge in fatal pedestrian accidents.
In yesterday’s blog entry, it was noted that, despite seeming to happen too regularly, the report did not mention an increase in deadly pedestrian accidents in Charleston County. But, as mentioned before, this can be attributed to a lack of attention paid to the Lowcountry by Upsate reports, there may be a large amount of pedestrian accidents that don’t result in death in the area, and it could be that Charleston County has simply not experienced an increase in pedestrian related road deaths.
With all that being said, this week the Charleston area has seen a couple fatal road accidents, one of which following the state’s statistical spike, and one going against the figures. But, the two fatal incidents share one aspect in common, investigations into the incidents required authorities to look into the role a medical issue might have played in the cause of the fatal accidents.
On Tuesday, a 48-year-old woman from Miami Beach, Florida was hit by a car on Savannah Highway in Ravenel. According to authorities, the woman was walking along the shoulder of the highway at 9:20 a.m when a car went off the road and struck her. She died of the injuries incurred in the accident, according to the Charleston County Coroner’s Office. The driver in the accident, a man from Ludowici, Georgia was with a traffic violation, violation of due care. But, in the course of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation, it was discovered that the driving was dealing with a medical issue at the time of the fatal pedestrian accident. In the Post and Courier’s report of the incident it does not disclose the specific injuries that killed the Florida woman, nor does it disclose the nature of the driver’s medical issue.
The other fatal accident also occurred on Tuesday, not too far from the Howell and Christmas. Mt. Pleasant office. Just before 10:00 a.m. a 73-year-old man from Summerville, driving a dump truck, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into eight cars before slamming into a tree in front of the Rite Aide at Mt. Pleasant’s Town Centre. Upon impact with the tree, the cab of the truck burst into flames. The major accident resulted in major traffic delays on a extremely busy stretch of U.S. Highway 17, tying up one of the Howell and Christmas paralegals as she was out to lunch and picking up bottled water for the office.
In the early goings of the investigation into this serious accident, there were some reports proposing the theory that the 73-year-old driver suffered some sort of medical event, causing him to lose control of the dump truck. But, after an autopsy was conducted by the Charleston County Coroner’s office on Wednesday, it was determined that there was no indication of a medical issue that would have impaired the gentleman driving the truck and that the cause of death was a result of the serious injuries sustained in the crash.
While doing a bit of extra research on this accident, your Charleston workers’ compensation lawyers discovered that the driver of the dump truck hosted a gospel radio show called “Glory Road” every Sunday on WJBS 1440 AM. He is remembered by the Program Director for the Holly Hill radio station as a lover of music and just a good, fun guy to be around.
