ORANGEBURG, S.C. - State officials say fewer troopers and more distractions have led to an increase in fatalities on South Carolina roadways this year.

In the seven-month period ending Aug. 1, 597 people died in crashes on South Carolina roads. That's up from the 538 deaths through a similar span in 2003.

One big reason is the state Public Safety Department has had to cut back on troopers on the road because of budget cuts, South Carolina Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Dwight Green said.

"I know that the numbers of the statistics is due to the lack of troopers on the roadways," Green said. "When you have more troopers on the roadways, you can be more proactive in reducing the number of fatalities."

Agency spokesman Sid Gaulden said driver inattention is also a problem in fatal crashes. "If people would pay more attention to what they're doing, we wouldn't have the numbers we have," Gaulden said. "We had a car fail to yield the right of way to a logging truck. That's the worst kind of case of driver inattention."

Highway Patrol statistics show that 366 motor vehicle occupants who died this year were not wearing seat belts.

Green says he's not sure what's caused the inattention problem.

"We have some drivers that are failing to yield the right of way, speeding, driving too fast for conditions and driving under the influence," Green said. "Those are the four most fatal contributors to collisions."

Another contributor when it comes to highway accidents are the rubbernecking that inevitably occurs, Gaulden said.

"When you have an accident, everybody stops to look," which compounds the problem, he said.

In a recent interstate accident near Columbia, Gaulden said investigators are trying to find out why a vehicle slammed into the back of another with no reasonable explanation.

A stopped vehicle on the other side of the highway may have caught the driver's eye, Gaulden said. "People need to pay attention to what they're doing," he said.

All the troopers and safe drivers in the world can't stop some fatalities.

In an I-95 crash near Santee on Tuesday, a vehicle drove through the southbound rest area and across the highway before hitting the median cable barriers. The vehicle then veered away, recrossed the interstate and crashed into a wooded area.

Green said investigators think the 41-year-old Charleston County man may have had medical difficulties right before he crashed.

Green says the agency is trying programs aimed at improving driver awareness - and lower fatalities.

"Our DUI grants, school zone safety and other safety initiatives that the Highway patrol has implemented are designed to reduce the number of fatalities," he said.

Such programs seem to work before.

That the programs are having an effect may be evidenced in the SCHP statistics, Green said.

While fatality numbers are up this year, they are still less than the 624 statewide fatalities in 2001 and 632 in 2002, both through Aug. 1 of those years.

"If we could just somehow get people to pay attention," Gaulden said.

---

Information from: The Times & Democrat, http://www.timesanddemocrat.com/