South Carolina Lawyer Blog
AAA Carolinas has singled out three South Carolina towns for excellence in traffic safety. Hanahan, Mount Pleasant, and Cameron have received the 2011 Traffic Safe Community of the Year award for their respective population size. The awards are given based on innovation in education and social media efforts, crash statistics, number of law enforcement officers per capita, their traffic safety program, and the presence of a special traffic division.
Mount Pleasant won the award for the third year in a row in the largest population category. Because traffic accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths in South Carolina, Mount Pleasant’s youth outreach efforts were especially lauded. This year and last year they were applauded for their middle, elementary, and high school education projects on topics like pedestrian, bicycle, and driver safety.
Despite the awards, Tom Crosby, president of AAA Carolinas, points out that South Carolina has a long way to go to improve traffic safety. “South Carolina continues to have a disproportionate number of fatalities at 1.6 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, according to preliminary data for last year. Traditionally, this rate is among the highest in the nation..
A recent study showing that South Carolina has the highest fatality rates on rural roads prompted Crosby to call them “killing grounds..