Aiken County road deaths rise

AIKEN --- Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton said that so far this year the county has had 28 vehicle deaths -- 21 in cars, four on motorcycles and three involving a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. During the same time frame a year ago, there were 20 road deaths, he said, and 32 in all of 2008.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

Four of the 18 roadway fatalities this year in Richmond County have occurred on Mike Padgett Highway. No one road stands out in Aiken County, officials say, but numerous rural roads without traffic lights can encourage speeding.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

Four of the 18 roadway fatalities this year in Richmond County have occurred on Mike Padgett Highway. No one road stands out in Aiken County, officials say, but numerous rural roads without traffic lights can encourage speeding.

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Preston Sparks/Staff

Mary Annie Wienbeck (left) and Mitzi Nichols, aunts to two of the five Aiken County wreck victims who died in a crash June 8, hold pictures of their niece, Crystal Lyell, and her son, Zachary Taylor. Ms. Lyell was found at fault.

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Preston Sparks/Staff

Mary Annie Wienbeck (left) and Mitzi Nichols, aunts to two of the five Aiken County wreck victims who died in a crash June 8, hold pictures of their niece, Crystal Lyell, and her son, Zachary Taylor. Ms. Lyell was found at fault.

Mr. Carlton said he believes lower gas prices have prompted more driving, increasing the likelihood of bad wrecks.

"When the price of gas goes back down, people are on the road more," he said.

Last year, when gas prices were high, authorities said they noticed a 30 percent decrease in the number of people killed on Aiken County roads compared to 2007, when 46 were killed.

Mr. Carlton said 14 vehicle crashes in which someone died this year have involved a driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

"Most of our cases are drug and alcohol related," he said, noting the county's worst fatality of the year, in which five people were killed in a wreck on New Holland Road on June 8.

Officials said the at-fault driver, Crystal Lyell, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.251, more than three times the legal limit, and had a significant level of the prescription painkiller hydrocodone and some THC, a chemical in marijuana, in her system.

Aiken County has many rural roads without traffic lights, which officials say encourages speeding.

"I think that's part of it," Mr. Carlton said. "It's a little more rural than Richmond County. We've always been sort of in the top 10, top five of traffic fatalities in the state of South Carolina."

Richmond and Columbia counties are faring better than Aiken County so far this year.

Richmond County has had 18 road deaths, on pace with the 31 it had in all of 2008, Richmond County Coroner Grover Tuten said.

Columbia County has had four road deaths so far, compared to six for all of 2008, said Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

Mr. Carlton said there doesn't seem to be one particular road in Aiken County where fatalities occur frequently. Capt. Morris said the same for his county.

Mr. Tuten, though, said one road stands out in Richmond County: Mike Padgett Highway, particularly south of its intersection with Tobacco Road.

"It's a wide-open, wooded area," he said. "Speeds tend to increase out in that area."

He said many trucks use the route, which can sometimes lead to bad wrecks. Of the county's 18 deaths this year, four have occurred on Mike Padgett and one involving a pedestrian was at Bennock Mill Road near Mike Padgett, the coroner said. No other county road has such a tally, he said.

Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.