FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 2, 2006

CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8409

 

 DRIVE SAFELY WORK WEEK IS OCT. 2-6:  MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES LEADING CAUSE OF WORKER DEATHS IN SC IN 2005

                                                                                                                                   

COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Department of Public Safety announces this week is Drive Safely Work Week, which promotes safe driving practices in the workforce. SCDPS is conducting safety presentations at various businesses throughout the state during October focusing on driving and the work place.

 

Motorists are especially vulnerable to being involved in collisions during rush-hour commute times from 6 a.m.-9 a.m. and 4 p.m.-7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Weekends and nights tend to yield the majority of fatal collisions.

 

Motor vehicle crashes were the number one cause of worker deaths in South Carolina in 2005, according to the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Collisions occurred while employees were driving company vehicles, or when they were driving their personal vehicles on company business, according to the Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department. www.llr.state.sc.us.

 

Drive Safely Work Week is a national effort to improve safety sponsored by Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) and supported by law enforcement and other safety organizations.

 

“Motor vehicle crashes in South Carolina tend to be highest during daytime hours when work traffic is present on our roadways,” said SCDPS Director James K. Schweitzer. “Those numbers especially seem to rise during traditional 'commute' hours especially in the afternoons. There are certain roadways in our larger metropolitan areas that are notorious for crashes and injuries.”

 

“Commute time” collisions usually involve inattention, failure to yield and speed. Congestion increases the likelihood of these collisions and often causes multiple or chain-reaction collisions

after traffic becomes stalled.

 

Motorists are reminded that South Carolina law mandates that you move your vehicle from the roadway following a collision in which there are no serious injuries. Many motorists believe that you must leave your vehicle in the same spot until law enforcement arrives. This often results in secondary collisions. Motorists are encouraged to move their vehicles out of the flow of traffic and move as far away from traffic as possible.

 

An analysis of 2005 crash data revealed the following:

• 3:01 p.m. – 6 p.m. was the leading time frame for all crashes and crashes involving injury; that time period was in second place for fatal crashes and the leading time for number of people injured;
• Total crashes drop during nighttime hours but fatal crashes increase: 9:01 p.m. – midnight was the leading time for number of people killed but it had only 7.5% of the number of total crashes;
• Friday is the leading day for total number of crashes. It is the second leading day for people killed.  The leading day for people killed is Saturday.
• October had the most total crashes of the year and the most people injured;

 

More information on Drive Safely Work Week can be found at http://www.trafficsafety.org/dsww.asp.