Don’t blame highway deaths on the trees

One reason South Carolina had the deadliest roads in the country in 2014, according to The State, was that too many drivers ran off the road and slammed into a tree. Perhaps, but that’s not the whole story.

A couple of years ago, the state Department of Transportation revealed a study that concluded the reason 47 people had died in five years along a 30-mile stretch of I-26 west of Summerville was distracted driving. The response was to remove 30 miles of trees from the median. Not mentioned was how many of the 47 people killed were not wearing seat belts.

Distracted driving could mean texting, talking on the cellphone, wandering attention — or even falling asleep due to boredom.

In 1956 President Dwight Eisenhower created the interstate highway system so war materiel could more easily be sent coast to coast if needed. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so our major highways run straight and true, with nothing to break up the monotony.

I’ve asked the Transportation Department to use the overhead highway signs to help break up the boredom. Put a riddle or the beginning of a joke on one sign and the answer or punchline on the next. Remember the Burma Shave signs?

The response: We don’t want to clutter up the signs with unimportant messages because people will become accustomed to it and ignore the major warnings. “Excessive and ineffective signs and messages cause unnecessary distractions for the motorists,” the agency wrote to me. But that’s the point: Keep our attention focused on something other than the boring ride. The agency even refuses to use the signs to tell motorists to turn on their headlights during inclement weather when vehicles without lights become invisible.

We grieve when a life is taken, especially on the highway. Identify the real cause, though: distracted driving and drivers falling asleep.

Just don’t blame the trees.

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Don’t blame highway deaths on the trees."