Over the past week your brain trauma attorneys in Charleston have noticed a lot of vehicle crashes, wrecks, and collisions in the Lowcountry. Since last Thursday there have been four serious motor vehicle accidents, and sadly, all four have been fatal.
In chronological order, the first occurred last Tuesday night (June 21) around 10 p.m. when a man struck a light pole head on in Dorchester County. According to authorities, the man was driving southbound on South Carolina Highway 61 when he hit the traffic light pole at the intersection of United States Highway 17A. The man, who was 32-years-old died as a result of the impact with pole, according to the Dorchester County Coroner’s Office. It was also noted in the Post and Courier’s coverage of the fatal crash that the man was not wearing his seat belt when his car collided with the pole. It is unfortunate, in the eyes of your South Carolina lawyers at Howell Law that so many of the accidents and crashes discussed in this blog involve a victim, or victims, not taking the simple safety measure buckling their seat belt.
Later that same night, around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday (June 22), a man was killed after running his motorcycle into a retaining wall as he approached the Ravel Bridge from Downtown Charleston. According to authorities, the 22-year-old Mt. Pleasant man was unable to negotiate a curve in U.S. Highway 17 near Huger St., causing him to the hit the wall, which then ejected him from his motorcycle; he landed over the wall below the overpass. The man was taken to Medical University Hospital, but died later Wednesday Morning. Again, much like the previous incident, the victim in this motorcycle accident neglected a simple safety measure, the motorcycle helmet. While South Carolina Law does not require it, wearing a helmet while on your hog is an effective means to prevent serious injury and death.
Later last week, Saturday (June 25), another man was killed in a single vehicle accident after his 1992 Dodge Dakota pickup truck crashed into a tree in Awendaw. The mid-evening crash happened after a 41-year-old North Charleston man’s truck ran off Sewee Road. The subsequent collision with a roadside tree caused fatal injuries and the man was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. More specific information regarding the man’s injuries was not available, or was not reported by the Post and Courier in their report of the accident.
Unlike the three previous motor vehicle accidents, the fourth does not involve a major collision. But, as mentioned in the beginning of this post, the outcome was sadly the same. This past Monday a 73-year-old Johns Island man was having a friend help tow his car down a dirt road not far from the entrance of Kiawah Island when, somehow, he was caught underneath the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene and the cause of death being asphyxia by mechanical compression, which simply means his lungs and were severely constricted and prevented from expanding, and therefore eliminating his ability to breath. As it is now, all signs are pointing to that this incident was simply a freak, unfortunate accident.