SC Highway Patrol Steps Up Law Enforcement To Minimize Road Fatalities Over Memorial Day Weekend | New

CHARLESTON – Holiday weekends come with holiday traffic. That means police will step up law enforcement efforts across South Carolina to minimize road fatalities over Memorial Day weekend.

State soldiers will focus on the interstate highways, which will be busy, said Lt. William Rhyne, spokesperson for the Highway Patrol.

Soldiers will also be stationed near the coast as people will be heading to the beach for Memorial Day, he said.

“Every soldier in South Carolina will be working at some point throughout the vacation weekend,” Rhyne said.

There were 364 fatal car crashes in 2021 in South Carolina that claimed 394 lives. That’s 63 more deaths than at this point last year, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Rhyne said it would be important for drivers to plan traffic while on the move and pay attention to safety precautions.

“We’ve had a lot of drivers who have lost their lives this year because they weren’t wearing their seat belts,” Rhyne said.

Among the fatal car crashes this year, 129 of 274 people who had access to seat belts were not wearing them, according to the DPS.

Over the weekend of May 21-23, there was a fatal car crash in South Carolina, DPS spokesperson Rachel Urconis said. There were nine fatal crashes on the weekend of May 14-16, Urconis wrote.

On May 26, a fatal accident occurred in Dorchester County on Wescott Boulevard, according to Highway Patrol.

Follow Olivia Diaz on Twitter @oliviardiaz.