2 drivers killed in Myrtle Beach area as cars hit trees. Auto deaths involving trees high

A North Carolina man has died after his vehicle crashed into a tree, according to the Horry County Coroner’s Office.

This is the second person to die in the last two days when their vehicle struck a tree.

Logan Hewitt, 23, died from injuries sustained in the crash on S.C. 905, Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said Tuesday.

Hewitt, of Whiteville, was traveling north on the highway when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree, Willard added.

No details about the crash have been released.

There was another single-vehicle crash Monday in the Myrtle Beach area that led to one fatality, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The passenger in that vehicle died after a GMC hit a tree on S.C. 31, said Cpl. Tyler Tidwell.

The coroner has not released that person’s name. The driver was hospitalized.

Trees are the most common fixed object struck, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

Forty-six percent (3,953) of deaths in fixed-object crashes in 2020 involved a vehicle striking a tree, the report says.

Utility poles and traffic barriers were the next most common objects struck.