WALTERBORO--The S.C. Highway Patrol will begin scaling back its increased enforcement effort on a deadly stretch of U.S. Highway 17 over the next few days, but its presence will still be felt, Col. Russell Roark said Friday.

"I assure you, we're not going to abandon you," Roark told about a 100 residents at a town hall meeting sponsored by the patrol.

Troopers began a "maximum exposure" effort on U.S. 17 between Jacksonboro and Gardens Corner on July 11 in response to a series of deadly wrecks that have plagued the 22-mile stretch.

In nearly three weeks, troopers wrote more than 1,200 tickets and were called out to only one collision, which was not fatal, said Capt. James Woods.

Woods, who is in charge of the six-county district that includes Charleston, Colleton, Berkeley and Dorchester counties, said most of the tickets were for speeding, including 425 for in-state motorists and 416 for out-of-state motorists.

He said only 27 18-wheeler drivers were ticketed, which troopers partially attributed to truckers' intricate communications network that alerts other truck drivers of heavily enforced areas.

Roark said the patrol can't sustain the maximum exposure effort in Colleton County because there are other areas, particularly Berkeley County, that have a need for increased enforcement.

He said troopers assigned to the area, in addition to three motorcycle units, will continue to patrol U.S. 17, with the help of Colleton County and Beaufort County sheriff's deputies.

Brenda Ladson Powell, who helped found the Advocates for Change on Highway 17 following the death of a friend this summer, told troopers that she understood they couldn't be everywhere at once.

Roark and Woods were joined by nearly a dozen other troopers Friday night during the town hall meeting. The patrol started the meetings three months ago to help educate drivers.

What made this meeting different from the others was the fact that it was translated into Spanish for a mostly Hispanic audience.

One woman in the audience, speaking through an interpreter, thanked the Highway Patrol for having the meeting, stressing that the biggest problems among the Hispanic community are lack of education and the language barrier.

Troopers also reminded drivers that the new primary seat-belt law begins Dec. 9, which will allow officers to pull drivers over for not buckling up. More meetings with troopers are planned in Orangeburg and Georgetown in August.