Traffic wrecks increase in Burton Fire District – including 9 last week

The Burton Fire District has responded to more than 315 traffic accidents so far this year, according to a district news release. That’s already more than the 300 accidents recorded in all of 2016.

On Friday, the fire district responded to a two-car collision on Trask Parkway. Nobody was injured, but it was the second wreck on Trask Parkway in a week.

In an earlier incident Nov. 17, a vehicle struck a moped, seriously injuring the moped driver, who was taken to the hospital, according to a Burton Fire District news release. While aid was being rendered to the moped driver, a vehicle struck a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office vehicle at the scene. That driver also was seriously injured and taken to the hospital by a family member.

Burton Fire District has responded to nine traffic accidents in the past week alone, according to their release.

“(Trask Parkway) is one of our hotbeds, along with Parris Island Gateway and Robert Smalls Parkway. They’re pretty big thoroughfares where we consistently have accidents,” said fire district spokesman Lt. Paramedic Daniel Byrne.

“We already have more accidents this year than we did last year, and if we keep going at the rate we’ve been going, we’re going to have considerably more,” said Byrne, who said the severity of the wrecks seems to be increasing as well. “In our experience as firefighters, the magnitude of the wrecks, the injuries and deaths, seem to be much higher this year.”

The Burton Fire District doesn’t formally keep track of accident causes. Byrne said driving under the influence or texting while driving appeared to have been factors in some of the accidents the fire district has responded to.

“We’re not accident investigators, so its a tough question,” Byrne said.

This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Traffic wrecks increase in Burton Fire District – including 9 last week."