This article was written on April 10, 2020, while a work or stay at home order was in effect, by Dustin Lee, a licensed South Carolina car accident and injury attorney. Dustin is managing partner of Lee Law Firm, LLC, with a primary office on Hilton Head Island. Dustin has been helping clients seriously injured in car accidents for over a decade, after receiving the highest grade in his law school class in South Carolina Insurance law. This article is not legal advice – if you have been seriously injured in a car accident in Hilton Head, Bluffton, or anywhere else in South Carolina, and do not currently have legal representation, please call us at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683 if you would like to get advice specific to your situation.
I have been reading articles the last few days about car insurance companies giving partial refunds of premiums due to the reduced miles driven and number of drivers on roadways due to stay-at-home type orders in effect due to COVID-19. What these articles do not always point out are the increased risks presented by fewer cars on the road. Some of these risks are anecdotal in nature, while others have come to my attention during calls to the firm since COVID-19 has become a bigger issue in Beaufort County and Jasper County.
While this is not meant to be a criticism of our extremely hard working front line emergency responders, local law enforcement seems to be focusing the majority of its resources and attention on items other than traffic/speeding enforcement at this time. When was the last time you saw someone pulled over for speeding on Hilton Head’s Cross Island Parkway or on Highway 278 in Bluffton? The numbers are down due to law enforcement focusing on other areas of concern during these trying times. Less traffic enforcement mixed with fewer cars is a recipe for higher speeds on our local roadways. Is a car traveling 65 miles per hour heading down Simmonsville Road or Squire Pope Road that strikes another vehicle likely to do more or less damage to occupants of a car than the same vehicle traveling 40 miles per hour? This is a rhetorical question of course. In short, if there is less traffic and less traffic enforcement, people may drive faster, meaning injuries due to car accidents are almost certainly going to be more severe in nature. I get updates frequently from individuals still going to and from work about how the drivers still on the road seem to be made up of all of the tailgaters and aggressive drivers from heavier traffic days. Please be careful on our local roadways if you must go out.
If you have been seriously injured due to the negligence of another driver on our South Carolina roadways and you would like to find out your legal options, please feel free to contact me at 1-843-474-0614 or 1-800-996-0683. While most car accident matters we handle are in Beaufort County and Jasper County due to our location on Hilton Head Island, I have handled injury matters throughout South Carolina. While we are working remotely at this time, we are still working hard for our injury clients and available for complimentary car accident consultations via telephone and video conferencing.