Glenda Mitchell Law Firm

The National Transportation Safety Board has been urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to create regulations that require semi-trucks to adopt collision avoidance technology since the 1990s. Although trucking carriers in South Carolina can voluntarily deploy safety technologies like collision warnings and automatic emergency brakes, the NHTSA has not introduced any regulations that require crash avoidance technology for big rigs.

A written statement from the NHTSA indicated that regulators might complete field testing of automatic emergency braking systems in 18 to 24 months. The safety board continues to call for improvements because fatal accidents involving semis and large trucks have increased by 28 percent from 2009 to 2016. In 2016 alone, more than 4,300 people died in truck crashes.

A head-on collision in South Carolina on the afternoon on Sept. 28 claimed the life of a 51-year-old woman, according to local reports. The accident took place on Bramlett Church Road in Laurens County at approximately 4 p.m. The South Carolina Highway Patrol says that no charges have been filed yet in connection with the fatal crash, but the investigation being coordinated by the agency's Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team remains open.

According to an SCHP report, the woman was proceeding southbound in a Toyota sedan on Bramlett Church Road near Woodruff when a Ford pickup truck crossed the center line. The two vehicles struck each other as the Toyota approached South Carolina Highway 417. Initial reports do not reveal why the 29-year-old woman behind the wheel of the Ford strayed into the path of oncoming traffic.

Georgia readers may be concerned to learn that fatal motor vehicle accidents involving large trucks jumped by 9 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, according to new federal statistics. The increase occurred even though overall traffic deaths decreased by 1.8 percent during the same 12-month period.

The statistics, which were issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, show that 4,761 people died in large truck accidents in 2017, which is 392 more than died in 2016. Fatal large truck crashes involving multiple vehicles also increased by 8.8 percent last year, while the number of truck driver and truck passenger deaths increased by 16 percent. Overall, 37,133 people died on American roads in 2017, which is a drop from the 37,806 people who died in traffic accidents in 2016.

Police in South Carolina say that a 60-year-old man will face felony drunk driving charges in connection with an accident in Greenville that claimed the life of a moped rider. Police say that the 46-year-old local resident was killed when a silver Nissan Altima made a left turn directly into his path. The man is currently recovering from injuries he suffered in the accident at the Greenville Memorial Trauma Center according to reports. Police say that they plan to formally charge him upon his release.

According to a Greenville Police Department report, the collision took place at the intersection of East Washington Street and Laurens Road at approximately 8:50 p.m. Eyewitnesses are said to have told responding officers that the man behind the wheel of the Nissan failed to yield before attempting to make a left turn. The ensuing collision ejected the moped rider from his machine according to media accounts. He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital.