Longtime trucker one of many killed on Jasper County’s I-95
Jim Eddins Jr. was cruising along I-95 in his 55-foot long semi truck, unaware that his father and fellow trucker, James Matthew Eddins, wasn’t following closely behind.
By the time he noticed and turned around, Jasper County emergency responders were already at the scene of the crash.
EMS and firefighters are accustomed to responding to calls on this deadly 33-mile stretch of interstate running through the county.
But their rapid response didn’t matter. James Eddins, 75, had already died.
It was unclear in the initial days following the September 2015 crash if his death was attributable to medical issues or impact.
In the autopsy report, Jasper County coroner Martin Sauls ruled that Eddins died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
He ran off the interstate, went down an embankment and hit several trees near mile marker 13, according to police reports.
Twenty-four others also died in tree-related wrecks on this stretch of interstate from 2010 through 2015.
Many law enforcement officials and local leaders say some of the deaths could have been prevented if trees along the interstate weren’t so close to the edge, leaving drivers who veer off course too little time to correct themselves.
Life as a trucker
James Matthew Eddins spent his entire career driving. He started full-time at 19. But he got his start when he was just 15, driving part-time hauling chickens.
From California to Florida to Massachusetts, Eddins drove cross-country for 18 years before starting his own trucking business, Bo-Ed Limited, allowing him to select his own routes. He focused on the Southeast, so he wasn’t too far from home for long periods of time.
His son, Jim Eddins Jr., joined the family business at age 24.
“Always wanted to drive a truck like he did,” Jim Jr. recently said.
Last year on Sept. 14, the father-son team was returning home to Moncure, N.C., after dropping off a load of roofing material in Jacksonville.
The two had driven this route hundreds, if not thousands, of times before, so they knew the drive home was simple: almost 350 miles of I-95 until crossing into the North Carolina border.
They had already made a stop for fuel at the Florida-Georgia line and another for food.
Gas station biscuits. That was the last meal they shared.
And an upcoming business trip. That was their last subject of conversation.
His father always made Jim take the lead. Even at 57, Jim Jr. was still the son and his dad felt a need to protect him, so he followed in his dark green Peterbilt truck, an empty white trailer hitched to the truck bed.
As country music crooned through the radio’s speakers, Jim Jr. glanced into his rearview mirror, intending to quickly shift his eyes back onto the road. But his focus remained there once he realized his father was no longer following.
He called his father on the CB radio. No answer. He tried three more times.
Then another trucker radioed in. There was a wreck less than a mile back.
Back on the road
Eddins’ crash was one of 66 tree-related collisions on I-95 in Jasper County in 2015, according to data from the Office of Highway Safety.
Most deaths are immediate, leaving law enforcement with one of the hardest assignments of the job: notifying loved ones.
In Eddins’ case, because Jim Jr. was on the scene, he made the call.
He phoned his brother and asked him to share the message with the rest of the family. He couldn’t bear sharing the news more than once.
Jim Jr. answered the police’s questions. They would handle transferring his father’s body to the coroner. With nothing left to do, he hopped in his truck and pulled back onto the highway that killed his father.
There was still about four hours left of the drive, four hours to process his loss.
Out of habit, Jim kept glancing in his rearview mirror, only to remember his father would never follow him again.
Moving forward
Retirement wasn’t an option for Eddins, said another one of his sons, Ronald. He was still trucking at 75 for one reason: to pay for his only granddaughter’s college.
But sitting for hours on the open road takes a toll on drivers’ health. The autopsy report noted heart blockages and high blood pressure.
“He sure loved his steak,” Jim Jr. said.
The Eddins will never know how much time they had left with their 75-year-old father.
“He left us too early,” Jim Jr. said.
Roughly 300 people fit inside Chatham United Methodist Church, where Eddins’ funeral was held. A funeral director said the service was standing room only and more people stood outside to wait their turn.
“That’s a lot for Moncure,” Jim Jr. said.
There are no stoplights in the rural community of Moncure, N.C. The unincorporated area is so small that the U.S. Census combined it with the neighboring community of Haywood to tally its population, just 711 people in 2010, the most recent figures available.
Jim Jr. lives on the same street as his two brothers and his mother. Bo-Ed Trucking is now a one-man operation, and Jim works six days a week to keep up with demand.
He has driven that same deadly stretch of I-95 at least four times since his father’s death. In the trucking business, it’s hard to avoid the interstate. Taking the back roads isn’t an option when dropping off loads in large cities such as Savannah and Jacksonville.
Jim Jr. tries to drive at nighttime when the road is less congested. Darkness shields the road signs, but he can still tell when he passes by mile marker 13. That’s when he starts wondering. What happened — and why?
Bureaucratic delays continue to plague the I-95 safety project that may have prevented Eddins’ death. Jasper County law enforcement officials continue to wait for the project to get underway after years of pleading with state officials — and, while they wait, they answer those dreaded calls following wrecks.
“It’s time for the trees to come down and the safety barriers to go up,” said Hardeeville Police Chief Sam Woodward. “We could put some flowers down there or something.”
Flowers are much more forgiving.
He then expressed an opinion unconventional in the Lowcountry.
“It will look better without that jungle of trees,” he said.
And without the chance for cars to wrap around them.
Kelly Meyerhofer: 843-706-8136, @KellyMeyerhofer
March 1-2, 2015 Only 35 miles of Interstate 95 run through Jasper County. But the short stretch is deadly -- because of trees. More motorists are dying in tree-related wrecks along this main artery to Hilton Head Island than anywhere else along I-95 in South Carolina. And nothing is being done to reverse the deadly trend. Our two-day series explores the emotional and financial costs of the wrecks and why fixing it is harder than you’d think. | READ
This story was originally published July 24, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Longtime trucker one of many killed on Jasper County’s I-95."