Two killed in separate weekend wrecks in Lexington County

Two people were killed in separate car crashes over the weekend including one early Sunday, the S.C. Highway Patrol reported Sunday.

Neither person was wearing a seatbelt, the patrol reported, and one was ejected from his pickup truck and died, while the other sustained severe fatal injuries.

In the first crash, shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday, a 2004 Ford pickup truck on Pine Branch Road, near Blowing Springs Road traveling east on Pine Branch, ran off the right side of the road, struck a mailbox, veered back left and ran down an embankment, where it overturned.

“The driver was ejected,” said a trooper spokeswoman.

The Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher had not identfied the victim late Sunday morning.

In the second incident, James Nathan Corbitt, 59, of Gaston, died in a one-vehicle crash around 1:10 a.m. Sunday, Fisher said.

The incident happened in the 500 block of Happy Town Road in Gaston, Fisher said. He died from injuries in the accident, Fisher said, adding an autopsy is scheduled for later Sunday.

Drivers not wearing seat belts make up about one-half of all vehicle fatalities in South Carolina, but nearly 90 percent of drivers are wearing seat belts. Safety advocates say statistics show use of seat belts saves lives.

This story was originally published September 20, 2015 at 9:11 AM.