How often have you been stopped on the highway, complaining about how traffic is not moving until you are slowly making your way in a single lane past a horrific scene involving an 18-wheeler crash?
The bodies may not be visible, and the injured have been rushed to the hospital already, but you can see the 18-wheeler on its side, a great steel behemoth lying across the median and a crushed car resting on its roof on the roadside, with grim-faced first responders standing or walking through the accident scene, doing what they must.
Maybe it’s because I spend too much time on the road, but I’ve seen far too many tragic scenes like this one over the years. When I get home, I Google the wreck and the location to find out what happened, but, instead, I find pages and pages of media reports of other similar 18-wheeler crashes.
It’s a nightmare scenario that seems to happen all too often – just how common are 18-wheeler crashes in SC?
18-Wheeler Crash Statistics
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in one recent year:
- There were 499,000 crashes involving large trucks in the US,
- 4415 of those crashes killed one or more people, and
- 107,000 of those crashes resulted in injuries.
In two years, that’s not quite a million crashes involving large trucks and nearly 9,000 dead people as a consequence. Over just ten years, that’s close to five million crashes and over 44,000 dead people, many of which may have been avoidable if the truck drivers and trucking companies had followed the rules of the road and federal regulations.
Where and when are 18-wheeler crashes most likely to occur? Most happened on rural highways and interstates:
- 57% happened in rural areas,
- 26% happened on interstates,
- 13% happened on interstates in rural areas, and
- Most crashes (83%) happened on weekdays.
Large truck crashes often happen in work zones – 30% of all fatal work zone crashes involved a large truck, and 10% of all work zone crashes that resulted in injuries involved a large truck.
Who is getting injured or killed by 18-wheelers? It’s usually not the truck driver – 82% of all deaths in large truck crashes were drivers or passengers in other vehicles.
18-Wheeler Crashes in Myrtle Beach, Conway, Florence SC
Just in our little corner of the state, from Myrtle Beach to Florence, SC, there are a staggering number of 18-wheeler crashes each year. Recent media reports include:
- An 18-wheeler went over the guard rail of the 501 Bypass Waccamaw River bridge in Conway, SC, resulting in one person hospitalized, damage to the bridge, and the need for a crane to remove the truck from the roadside. The driver was charged with driving too fast for conditions.
- An 18-wheeler crashed into a utility pole in Loris, SC, resulting in injuries and road closures.
- An 18-wheeler crashed “in the woods” in Galivants Ferry, with one person hospitalized as a result.
- The US 501 exit to US 17 South was closed after an eighteen-wheeler overturned in a roll-over crash.
- A person was injured in an 18-wheeler crash on Hwy 90 in Conway, SC, resulting in road closures.
- An 18-wheeler struck the 501 overpass on Hwy 701 in Conway, SC, resulting in road closures.
- An 18-wheeler carrying a load of plywood crashed on Hwy 76 at Hwy 327 in Florence County, SC.
- An 18-wheeler crashed on Interstate 95 in Florence, SC, and caught fire.
- Another 18-wheeler crashed on Interstate 95 in Florence County, SC, killing the driver and spilling diesel onto the highway.
- An 18-wheeler collided with a smaller truck near the South Irby Street Walmart in Florence, SC, killing one person.
- An 18-wheeler collided with a car on Hwy 327 in Florence, SC resulting in the death of the car’s driver.
- Two 18-wheelers caught fire after crashing on Interstate 95 in Florence County, SC.
- A jury awarded $17 million to the surviving family members of an 18-wheeler crash on Interstate 95 near Florence, SC that killed a young couple and their 7-month-old son. A total of five people were killed in the crash, the truck driver was likely intoxicated, and the truck driver ignored warning signs that he was approaching a work zone.
- The driver of a pickup truck was killed in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler in Georgetown County, SC.
- An 18-wheeler crashed on the Hwy 17 bridge between Pawleys Island and Georgetown, SC, resulting in the front-end of the tractor-trailer hanging off the bridge and injuries to another driver.
- An 18-wheeler crash on Manning Hwy in Williamsburg County, SC resulted in fatalities and road closures.
- A pedestrian was struck and killed by a dump truck near Snooks Court in Georgetown County, SC.
- An 18-wheeler ran off the Yauhannah Bridge near the Horry/Georgetown County line, crashing into a swamp and killing the driver.
- A Bud Light truck driver was seriously injured in a crash on Hwy 31 in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
- A pedestrian was killed by an 18-wheeler on Hwy 501 in Horry County near Conway, SC.
- Two people were injured after an 18-wheeler crash on Hwy 544 in Horry County near Roscoe Road in Socastee.
- An 18-wheeler collided with a car near Cox Ferry Road and Hwy 501 in Conway, SC.
- A 3-vehicle crash involving an 18-wheeler resulted in three deaths and the tractor-trailer hanging off a bridge on I-95 in Florence County, SC.
- A tractor-trailer overturned on Hwy 544 near Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC, resulting in injuries and road closures.
18-Wheeler Crash Lawyers in Myrtle Beach and Conway, SC
If you or a loved one has been hurt in an 18-wheeler crash in SC, the Myrtle Beach 18-wheeler accident lawyers at Coastal Law will investigate the crash, the driver, the trucking company, and the causes of the accident to help you determine who is liable and to recover the maximum compensation you are entitled to under SC law.
Call Coastal Law now at (843) 488-5000 or send an email through our website to set up a free consultation and case review with a SC trucking accident attorney today.
