South Carolina Traffic Collision Fact Book, 2009

NHTSA · 2010 · ROSA P / South Carolina. Dept. of Public Safety

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (full text — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

The *South Carolina Traffic Collision Fact Book, 2009* provides a comprehensive statistical analysis of motor vehicle collisions in South Carolina for the year 2009. Published by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, the report aims to characterize the causes, consequences, and patterns of traffic crashes to inform safety strategies. The data is derived from Uniform Traffic Collision Report Forms (TR-310) submitted by investigating officers for collisions involving injury, death, or property damage exceeding $1,000 on public highways. The report documents that total reported traffic collisions decreased slightly to 106,864 in 2009, while traffic fatalities dropped 2.9% to 894. Notably, the mileage death rate (MDR) reached an all-time low of 1.84 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles of travel. Conversely, reported traffic injuries increased by 2.9% to 48,303. The estimated economic loss from collisions, including property damage, medical costs, and lost productivity, totaled $2.67 billion, a 1.5% decrease from the previous year. Driver behavior was identified as the primary contributing factor in 92.9% of all collisions and 86.7% of fatal collisions. In fatal crashes, driving under the influence (DUI) was the leading cause, accounting for 31.1% of incidents, followed by driving too fast for conditions (16.0%). The report highlights that male drivers aged 20–24 were significantly overrepresented in fatal collisions, comprising 8.8% of drivers involved in such crashes despite representing only 4.0% of licensed drivers. Temporal analysis revealed that more than 62% of fatal collisions occurred between 3:01 p.m. and 3:00 a.m., with weekends seeing higher fatality counts than weekdays. Spatially, state secondary routes accounted for the highest number of fatal collisions (38.9%), while the majority of all collisions occurred in clear weather and on dry road surfaces. The findings underscore the critical role of human error in traffic safety, particularly regarding impairment and speed. The data suggests that targeted interventions addressing DUI, speeding, and the behaviors of young male drivers could significantly reduce fatalities. Additionally, the disparity between the declining fatality rate and rising injury count indicates a need for continued focus on collision prevention rather than solely on survivability. The report serves as a foundational resource for policymakers and safety advocates seeking to mitigate the human and economic costs of motor vehicle crashes in South Carolina.

Key finding

Driver error was the primary contributing factor in 92.9% of all traffic collisions and 86.7% of fatal crashes in South Carolina during 2009.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• incidence prevalence

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes