One driver killed, another hurt in head-on crash on Lexington County road, cops say
One driver was killed and another was hurt in a head-on crash on a Lexington County road, the South Carolina Highway Patrol said Tuesday.
Sarah L. Patino died at the scene Monday, according to Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher. The 67-year-old Chapin resident was driving a 2018 Honda Pilot SUV, according to Master Trooper David Jones of Highway Patrol.
The two-vehicle collision happened at about 5:15 p.m. on Chapin Road, near the intersection with Snapdragon Court, Jones said. That’s in Chapin, near Lake Murray.
A 2004 Chevrolet truck was heading west on Chapin Road when it ran off the right side of the road, Jones said. The Chevy overcorrected, went back on the road, where it crossed the center line into oncoming traffic and crashed into Patino’s eastbound Honda, according to Jones.
Patino was not wearing a seat belt and died at the scene, Jones said.
The man driving the Chevy truck, who was wearing a seat belt, was taken to an area hospital with serious injuries, according to Jones. Fisher said the injuries were not life threatening, but further information on his condition was not available.
No other injuries were reported.
Information on what caused the Chevy to originally veer off the road was not available, but the crash continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol.
Through Tuesday morning, 596 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2021, state Department of Public Safety data shows. Of those, 405 of the victims had access to seat belts, but 200 were not wearing them, DPS reported.
At least 32 people have been killed in Lexington County crashes in 2021, and seat belts were not used in 13 of the deaths, DPS reported.
There have been other fatal collisions in the Midlands in recent days involving vehicles heading the wrong way into oncoming traffic.
On Saturday, a motorcycle rider was killed in a crash in Columbia. A 2012 Kawasaki was going north in the southbound lane on U.S. 21 when it collided with a Toyota making a left turn into a driveway, according to the Highway Patrol.
On Sunday, both drivers of a 2018 Hyundai sedan and a 2011 Jeep SUV were killed in a two-vehicle collision on a section of Interstate 26 in Lexington County. The Hyundai was heading east when it was hit by the Jeep traveling in the opposite direction in the eastbound lanes, according to the Highway Patrol.
On Monday morning, a woman driving to work on S.C. 34 was killed when another car swerved into her lane and caused a head-on crash, the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office said.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
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This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
