According to the most recent numbers posted by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, there were 991 fatal crashes in South Carolina in 2021.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One person died when a KIA Rondo collided with an empty logging truck at the intersection of Highway 5 and Reservation Road in York County on Monday Night. York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said Richard Brock, 65, who was the driver of the KIA, was pronounced dead on the scene.
Lesslie Fire and Rescue, along with multiple other agencies, were on the scene for four hours. Brock had to be extricated from his vehicle, said Doug Morris, who is the deputy chief at Lesslie Fire and Rescue.
“It’s traumatizing,” Morris said. “As an instant commander of a scene, you always check on your personnel just to make sure [everybody is okay] because everybody is human.”
The crash is still under investigation, and troopers haven’t said who was at fault.
According to the most recent numbers posted by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, there were 991 fatal crashes in South Carolina in 2021. That’s an increase from 956 fatal crashes in 2020 and 915 fatal crashes
Micah Connor, who owns Roadwayz CDLS in Charlotte, has been driving trucks for more than 10 years and teaching other drivers for three years.
He says the most difficult part of the training is unteaching bad habits.
“What people in their trucks as far as being on the phone, not paying attention, being an aggressive driver – they are like that in their cars as well,” Connor said. “So I think when you come to any school, definitely my school, we tend to get that out of you.”
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says in 2019, more than 4,000 people died in large truck crashes; 67% of the deaths were passengers in the other vehicles.
With a truck driver shortage across the nation, Connor said it’s important for trucking schools to keep classroom sizes small and not rush the training.
“I believe some of the schools need to minimize some of their students,” Connor said. “Me, personally, here at Roadwayz we only do six students per class.”
Morris is also asking drivers to slow down, pay attention, and move over when emergency vehicles are working on a scene.
“You we try to use all of reflective gear whenever possible and traffic warn lights to slow traffic down,” Morris said. “A lot of times people are in just too much of a hurry.”
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