BLUFFTON, S.C. - An 82-year-old Bluffton man was killed along a dangerous stretch of state Highway 17, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The Bluffton man was turning on to the highway in his Chevrolet Impala at the Gardens Corner intersection when a sport utility vehicle heading north hit the driver's side, Lance Cpl. Paul Brouthers said.

Thirty-four people have died on the 22-mile stretch of the road in Colleton and Beaufort counties since 1997. It's the 13th fatality since January 2004.

The Bluffton man's name was not released Thursday night. The man's wife, 78-year-old Inez Gianetta, was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital. Hospital officials didn't release her condition.

The sport utility vehicle driver, Ralph M. Spickerman, 39, of Mount Pleasant, wasn't injured, Brouthers said. The Bluffton man's failure to yield right of way contributed to the accident, he said.

The state has proposed a $22 million project for the intersection with overpasses and access roads. That project is part of state efforts to widen the stretch under a $150 million project that remains largely unfunded.