S.C. Posts Safest Year on Roadways Since 1982

Wrapping up the safest year on South Carolina’s roadways since 1982, state highway safety officials are not satisfied.

For the first time in 31 years, the Palmetto State should finish the year with fewer than 800 traffic fatalities. Through Thursday, 717 motorists, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians had died on the state’s roadways, according to preliminary figures from the S.C. Department of Public Safety.

Anderson County posted 32 traffic fatalities through Dec. 15.

That’s down 120 deaths from the same period in 2012 and continues a multi-year downward trend — a feat that safety officials say can be attributed to partnerships with local law enforcement officers and nonprofit groups, education efforts and enforcement.

But safety officials say we can do better. In fact, they say we can do a lot better. The new SCDPS campaign is “Target Zero: A goal we can all live with.”

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Phil Riley, director of the state Office of Highway Safety and Justice Programs. “For us to one day, hopefully, reach zero (fatalities), it’s going to take everyone doing their part. The ones we’re trying to get on board right now are the motoring public. … We need their active involvement and participation in making the roads safer.”

While zero traffic fatalities throughout a calendar year is unrealistic, the campaign takes into account that it takes just one death to tear apart a family.

Full Story Here