"It's a violent death," he said. "And it stays with you."
Such deaths in Beaufort County are at their highest midyear level since 1999, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. At the same time, the number of state troopers continues to decline, and those troopers are being asked to do more with less.
While a dip in trooper levels and a rise in road deaths is not necessarily directly connected, law enforcement officials said having fewer Highway Patrol officers certainly doesn't help to make the roads any safer.
Between Jan. 1 and July 11, there were 16 traffic deaths in Beaufort County, double the number during the same period of 2003. That's the same number of traffic deaths recorded at midyear in 1999, which saw the most number of total highway deaths in the past five years with 30.
Highway Patrol officers, meanwhile, have steadily been declining in recent years. Since the local office combined with Jasper County in 2002, the number of troopers covering both counties has dropped by 20 percent, from 30 to 24.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Sid Gaulden said Beaufort County is not alone in its high number of traffic deaths. Statewide, as of July 14, there were 523 road deaths, 49 more than during the same period last year.
The reasons behind the increase in fatal accidents are hard to pinpoint because it's often difficult to ascertain what a driver was doing before an accident.
"We can't really explain why last year accidents were down," Gaulden said. "We can take credit for it, but we can't explain it."
Gaulden said drivers' lack of attention, speeding and reckless driving seem to be the leading causes of road deaths in the state.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner cited the county's deteriorated, narrow roads as likely reasons for some of the local traffic deaths.
"In a light drizzle, you would never see the line down the center," he said, referring to the condition of some county road markings.
Having fewer troopers patrolling roads also means less deterrence for bad drivers, Gaulden said.
"The more troopers you have on the road, the more visible they are, and people pay more attention to what they're doing," he said. "If somebody's doing 85, and comes up behind a trooper, they're going to slow down."
Staff and budget cuts have made such deterrence work more difficult to do, he added. The Highway Patrol has seen nearly a fifth of its funding cut in the past few years, as its budget has fallen from $61 million in 2002 to $50 million last year.
Gaulden said less troopers means they respond more, and prevent less.
"We can't be out there looking for the speeders and looking for the guys who drive recklessly," he said. "Instead of being proactive, it becomes more of a response mode. Higher visibility would impact driving habits."
Gaulden said the Highway Patrol is working hard to retain current staff, and will not conduct a new trooper training class for at least the next two years.
"We'd love to have more money," he said. "But there isn't more to be had."
The lack of Highway Patrol funding is a fiscal sign of the times, said state Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island.
"Nobody's picking on them," Richardson said. "Cuts have been across the board, and we're sharing the pain equally across the board."
Richardson said he did not expect to see an increase in the Highway Patrol budget until the economy begins "screaming" again. He said the cuts mean the troopers no longer have the benefit of a standing force, but instead respond to calls as they come in.
"They're doing a great job with what they've got," Richardson said. "We stress them to the limit, and they have risen to the occasion."
While the Highway Patrol continues to get by on what it has, its depleted ranks have meant more work for the Sheriff's Office, said Sheriff Tanner.
"It requires us to work more traffic and takes away from other stuff," Tanner said. "It's pathetic."
The Sheriff said traffic duties are not traditionally the job of the Sheriff's Office. Such calls can distract deputies from following up on everything from a dog barking to a homicide call, which Highway Patrol doesn't respond to.
"We then have to do more law enforcement with less," he said.
Tanner said that 10 or 15 years ago, deputies dealt with 400 to 450 traffic calls a year. That number is now up to 3,000.
"It has added commitments as well as cost," he said. "When they cut five troopers out of Beaufort County, we have to dedicate five deputies."
Deputies dealing with calls on the county's busier roads also means fewer patrols of slower, residential streets, he said.
"We have some resource issues, no doubt," Tanner said.
Although fewer troopers are on local roads to make reckless drivers think twice, Public Education and Information Officer Dan Byrne of the Beaufort Fire Department said there are things drivers can do to keep themselves from ending up on the road death list of 2004.
"Be careful at intersections, be prepared for the unexpected, and always scan your mirrors for an escape route if you need one," he said. "And please, put down your cell phones."