Troopers to target pedestrian road deaths

Columbia resident Freddie Strong was wearing dark clothes as he walked down Hard Scrabble Road after sundown last January.

It was the 54-year-old's last walk - he was hit by a Chrysler van going 40 mph and was killed. The driver wasn't charged; he was going under the speed limit but just couldn't see Strong in the roadway.

Pedestrian road deaths like Strong's - there have been more than 80 in South Carolina so far this year - have caught the attention of top state law enforcement officials.

Sometime early next year, the 600-plus state troopers with the S.C. Highway Patrol will start using a variety of techniques they hope will cut down on deaths of people who are walking on or next to state roads.

"Pedestrians being killed are more than 10 percent of our [roadway] fatalities," said Highway Patrol Col. Kenny Lancaster.

In three of the past five years, 100 or more pedestrians each year have been killed in South Carolina.

In 2006, 125 pedestrians were killed; in 2007, 109; in 2008, 100; and in 2009, 87. Most are killed between 6 p.m. and midnight on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, according to statistics from the S.C. Department of Public Safety'soffice of highway safety.

In South Carolina, many roads, especially noninterstate, two-lane highways, are not friendly to people on foot. Many roads, even in cities, have narrow shoulders and lack sidewalks.

Given the lack of state money for roads, there's not much officials can do to make them safer.

That's why the patrol's effort will target the human side of the pedestrian death equation, said Lancaster and his boss, S.C. Department of Public Safety director Mark Keel.

New tactics will likely include:

If patrolling troopers see a pedestrian walking on the wrong side of the road, they will stop - if they can do so safely - and get that person on the correct side of the road. Pedestrians should walk facing oncoming traffic.

Troopers also will distribute reflective bands to be worn on the wrist or ankles to pedestrians they see walking. That will enable a motorist to see a pedestrian far ahead.

"When a pedestrian is wearing a band, a driver has so much more reaction time," Keel said.

If troopers encounter an obviously drunken pedestrian, they will most likely arrest that person and transport him to jail on public intoxication charges. A drunken person along a roadway poses a threat to motorists, troopers say.

"A lot of our pedestrians that are being struck are under the influence," Lancaster said.

If the pedestrian is sober, the trooper will likely talk to him about safe walking procedures.

In recent months, more and more people seem to be walking the state roads, Lancaster said.

"With the economy, we may be seeing even more pedestrians in the future," he said.

On a recent night, Lancaster said, he and Keel drove back to Columbia from Georgetown.

"I bet we passed seven pedestrians in the middle of the night," he said of the 123-mile trip on back roads through small towns.

The pedestrian initiative comes after two years of the Highway Patrol concentrating on DUI, speeding and seat belt violations - efforts that have led to dramatic reductions in the number of people killed on South Carolina's roads annually.

"We wanted to do more," Lancaster said.

The patrol will concentrate its initial efforts in counties where the pedestrian death toll is highest from 2005-2009.

Those include Charleston (58 deaths), Greenville (48), Horry (47), Richland (34) and Spartanburg (29), according to patrol statistics.

Keel said the basic messages the patrol wants to communicate are simple.

"All we want to do is put them on the right side of the road, and if they are wearing dark clothes, tell them you need not be wearing this black sweater and black pants because people can't see you," said Keel.

"And we will give them bands and say, 'If you're going to walk out here, put this reflective band on so people can see you,'" Keel said. He said troopers will distribute the bands even to people who are wearing light-colored clothing.

The education effort, and the distribution of bands, won't cost much - about $10,000 from a federal highway safety grant, officials said. Bands are expected to cost no more than $1.50 or $2 each.

Lancaster said when troopers stop and talk to a pedestrian, they will make a record of who they talk with, as well as the basic facts of the situation. To do this, they will use their warning tickets, which contain the category "other."

"The warning ticket can be used to log in a public contact," said Lancaster, explaining the patrol doesn't intend to fine pedestrians but is required to keep a record of its encounters with the public.

"Our goal in this is educational - not to issue tickets," he said.

Keeping a record, and analyzing data from the encounters, may help the patrol identify problem areas in the future, Lancaster said.

Of course, he said, obviously intoxicated pedestrians who pose a danger to themselves and motorists will be taken into custody and transported to a nearby jail.

In certain circumstances, troopers will be authorized to give pedestrians rides, Lancaster said.

Keel said he doesn't anticipate criticism that troopers are harassing innocent civilians.

"We are not trying to stop anyone from walking on the side of the road - we just want them to do it safely," he said.