The S.C. Highway Patrol discourages speeding by issuing tickets to those who violate posted limits. But it also discourages speeding in public forums designed to teach motorists that a speeding fine and increased insurance premiums are minor inconveniences when compared to the potentially tragic costs of going too fast.

The S.C. Department of Public Safety reported that as of July 25, 530 people had died on our state's roadways, an increase of more than 10 percent over the 478 who had died by that point in 2004. The "town hall meetings" in communities around the state aim to slow that fatal trend -- and to slow down drivers who don't grasp the risks they impose upon themselves and others by exceeding the speed limit.

And the risk of speeding is especially high in the Palmetto State. In June, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released data showing that over the last two decades, South Carolina had a higher rate of speeding-related traffic fatalities than any other state.

That was more than sufficient cause for the Highway Patrol to expand its attempts to reduce speeding with public forums. As Lance Cpl. Paul Brouthers, Highway Patrol spokesman, told our reporter:

"The Patrol is investing a lot of time and effort into this because we feel that working with communities to get the fatality rate down will work much better than trying to accomplish this on our own. Individual responsibility on the part of drivers, along with education awareness programs, has now become a vital component of the overall strategy of collision reduction."

Yet that doesn't mean the Highway Patrol is backing away from its more traditional method of enhancing public "awareness" that speeding doesn't pay. It responded to a flurry of deadly accidents this summer on a hazardous stretch of U.S. Highway 17 with strengthened enforcement that cost many drivers ample fines.

So slow down. You won't just decrease your chances of getting an expensive ticket. You'll increase your chances -- and the chances of those with whom you share the road -- of living longer.