Driver Arrested in Deadly Chesnee Hit-and-Run

CHESNEE, SC- Wspa.com writes that a driver struck and killed a pedestrian this week in Chesnee. The victim, identified as a 52-year-old man, was struck on McAbee Road close to Horseshoe Circle in the late evening.*

The driver was operating a 2007 Nissan Frontier and heading eastbound when he struck the victim who was in the roadway. The driver, identified as a nineteen-year-old man, is now facing charges for fleeing the scene of a crash that resulted in death. The coroner is still investigating the tragic incident. 

From 2008 through 2017, 1,144 pedestrians died on South Carolina roads. Pedestrian crashes are not a problem isolated to the Palmetto State. In fact, nationally, the number of people killed in pedestrian crashes increased by 35.4 percent within the last ten years. However, the figures rose faster in South Carolina, where the number of such tragedies increased by 52.5 percent. 

Safety advocates argue that our roadways are designed to facilitate cars, not people. The goal of roadway engineers appears to be to allow traffic to move as quickly as possible, and not to protect vulnerable road users. 

South Carolina's "Pedestrian Danger Index," or PDI, is the tenth worst in the United States. This number is calculated based on the risk to pedestrians when population size and the number of people who walk to work are considered. The PDI for South Carolina was 107.8. When compared with the national average PDI of 55.3, it becomes apparent that South Carolina is not a friendly state for foot traffic. 

One of the steps that the state was advised to take was to implement a Complete Streets policy that works to ensure that roads are designed with safety as a top priority. 

Accident News is a safety and education initiative from Montlick & Associates, designed to help people better understand and thereby avoid common accident causes.  To learn more about our injury prevention programs, including iridesafe.com - click here. We hope you are never in an accident, but if you or a family member are injured, call Montlick & Associates 24/7 for your free consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333) or use our live chat at Montlick.com.

Sources:

https://www.wspa.com/news/accidents/pedestrian-hit-killed-on-mc-abee-rd-in-chesnee-area/

https://smartgrowthamerica.org/app/uploads/2019/06/Dbd2019_State_SC.pdf