A tragic week in South Carolina

I was out of town earlier this week, hiking and mountain biking with my family in western North Carolina. Since I was away from the internet, television, and newspapers, I did not hear about the horrible tragedy that I would read about when I picked up the Tuesday edition of the Greenville News upon my return. By now, anyone reading this has probably already heard about the untimely deaths of Lee Anne Barry and Thomas Hoskins, who were both struck by an SUV on a rural South Carolina road this past Sunday. Mrs. Barry, the founder and executive director of The B.I.G. Ride, was on the last leg of her latest cross country ride to raise awareness about brain injuries. You can read more about her and the great work she did with her charity group in this article in the Charlotte Observer. Mr. Hoskins, an avid cyclist for 20 years, had just joined her for the last leg of the ride into Charlotte on Sunday. His funeral took place in Columbia today, with members of the local cycling community wearing jerseys and serving as honorary pallbearers. Just a couple days after this tragedy that took two lives, a third cyclist was killed in a hit and run near Beaufort. It is unbelievable and terribly sad that these three deaths occurred in the same week, but unfortunately, fatalities from cyclist/motorist crashes are more common in South Carolina than they are in most other states.

Here in Greenville, the number of cyclists on the roads seems to be increasing all the time. Greenville already has a great cycling community and is geographically located in a wonderful part of the country for cycling. Add in factors like the US Pro Championships and George Hincapie’s Pla d’ Adet development in the northern part of the county, and it is no wonder that the number of cyclist on the roads continues to grow. I like to promote cycling in this area as much as anyone, but it is important to always remember that this state has a very BIG problem to address when it comes to cycling safety. South Carolina ranks consistently near the top of all 50 states in the number of bicycling fatalities per capita. According to the SCDOT website, in 2004 South Carolina's fatality rate stood at 5.24 per 100,000 population, the fourth highest death rate in the nation. In that same year, 12 hit and run bicycle “accidents” occurred in this state, one of which was fatal. 2004 happens to be a year for which I have statistics, but South Carolina’s record has been about the same every year since at least 1999. As I stated before, our rate of cycling fatalities per 100,000 residents has ranked us near the bottom of U.S. states in recent years (we have consistently ranked between the 2nd to 6th worst state every year since 2000).

A total of 101 cyclists died in collisions with automobiles on the roads of South Carolina between 2000 and 2004. In all of those cases, only 18 citations were issued to the motorists involved (some drivers may have received multiple citations so the total number of drivers charged could be less than 18). To me, that is a sickening statistic. In South Carolina, only around 5 percent of drivers are charged with anything at all when they “accidentally” take someone’s life? Nationwide, between 2000 and 2003, only about 18 percent of drivers were charged in fatal cyclist/motorist crashes. That is still a low number, but as you can see, South Carolina’s prosecution rate in cases involving the death of a cyclist is much lower that the national average.

Since I already mentioned the Tuesday edition of the Greenville News, I’ll point to another very sad article that appeared in the paper that very same day. The number of traffic deaths in this state is up from this time last year. The article stated that, as of Sunday, 870 people had died on South Carolina’s roads. The article points out that 651 of those people were in motor vehicles, which means that 219 were bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists (who apparently aren’t classified as motor vehicles by the state). I have mentioned before that the act of driving a car is something that most people take way too casually. Driving requires complete attention to the road and those who hurt or kill others when they fail to do so should be held accountable for their carelessness. I don’t want to turn this post into a rant about inattentive drivers; I’ll save that for another time. I also don’t want this post to come across as bashing the state in which I live. I am very happy to live in Greenville and I truly do believe that this is a great town for cycling (and is going to get better). My point in bringing up the state’s poor track record regarding cycling fatalities is to encourage all of you to get involved in improving conditions for cycling, not only here in Greenville, but all over the state. If you are not already a PCC member, you should join today. That organization is doing great work to make conditions safer for all cyclists in South Carolina. I also encourage all of you to write your elected officials to ask them, not only for bicycling infrastructure improvements like “Share the Road” signs and bike lanes, but also for driver education and, perhaps most importantly, better enforcement of existing traffic laws. Let’s not let the tragic deaths of three cyclists in our state pass by unnoticed. We can’t expect our elected officials to do anything about the issue of cycling safety in South Carolina if it is not brought to their attention. I encourage all of you to let them know how you feel and to tell them that we need their help to reverse our state’s extremely poor cycling safety record. If we all work together, we can make positive changes for all cyclists in South Carolina.