Fix planned for dangerous road where teens died in Christmas holiday wreck

Safety improvements are coming to Bay Road where three teenage girls were killed in a wreck just days before Christmas — a tragedy that shook the community and prompted demands that dangerous driving conditions at the crash site be corrected.

An online petition requesting that guardrails be installed on Bay Road has drawn more than 1,000 signatures since the Dec. 22 wreck, with comments from local residents recalling their own vehicle accidents near the same site.

The petition has not been presented to the Horry County Council, and it might not be necessary because work on a Bay Road safety project begins next week.

Notice will be issued Jan. 13 to hire an engineer to create stormwater and design improvements that address safety and drainage along Bay Road, said Gary Loftus, Horry County Councilman.

The steep drainage ditch is where the vehicle carrying the girls ran off the road before striking a tree.

The total cost is estimated at $2 million, which county officials have been budgeting yearly since 2015.

“We can redesign that road, and we’re going to do it,” Loftus said. “It’s not like we were ignoring it.”

The single-vehicle crash occurred after 3 a.m. on Bay Road near Blue Heron Boulevard and Freewoods Road when the Toyota truck ran off the road, into the ditch and crashed into a tree. The victims included a 14-year-old from St. James Middle School, a 15-year-old from St. James High School and a 15-year-old from Socastee High School.

The Horry County Coroner’s Office has refused to release the names of the victims.

Councilman Johnny Vaught agreed the road should be fixed, but he and Loftus questioned whether guardrails demanded in the petition are the answer.

“I don’t know if that would have saved them,” Vaught said. “I would like to see the results of the accident investigation to see exactly what had happened.”

The crash is under investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol and Multi-disciplinary Accident Investigation Team, which investigates complicated vehicle crashes and reconstructs accident scenes.

The Sun News filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the highway patrol for a copy of the accident report initially filed by officers on the scene. The request has been acknowledged by the agency and is still pending.

The initial police statement said the vehicle was traveling westbound when it crossed the center line and ran into the ditch. No rate of speed or any other extenuating circumstances were disclosed, including the driver’s identity.

The cab of the truck split from the vehicle after it hit the tree, ejecting two of the victims. The driver was wearing a safety belt.

“Being an engineer and looking at how the vehicle came apart, they were going pretty fast,” Loftus said.

“I don’t want to sound unsympathetic; my heart goes to to the family,” Loftus said. “But, you could build the safest interstate and if someone is not doing what they should be doing and it kills someone else, what do you do?”

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 11:45 PM with the headline "Fix planned for dangerous road where teens died in Christmas holiday wreck."