Who's making our roads dangerous?

Since 2009, Beaufort County has logged more than 16,000 collisions -- most of them fender benders, rear ends and light taps.

But some of those wrecks along the county's more than 250 miles of roadways have not been so minor.

According to data from the S.C. Department of Public Safety, during the past five years, more than 4,500 crashes resulted in injuries. That's nearly 30 percent of all collisions in the county.

And 109 motorists died -- with more than half of those deaths coming since 2012.

Driving here has become much more dangerous in recent years, said Paul Sommerville, Beaufort County Council chairman and longtime resident.

"The mere geometry of the growth of the county has created a much more perilous situation on the road, and it has become a whole different dynamic driving an automobile in Beaufort County," he said. "As a driver, that means there are going to be many more people getting in accidents these days."

Thoughts from your fellow Beaufort County drivers

Story continues after video

But what is making it so dangerous? We decided to put some common local perceptions to the test and see if they hold true when examining fatal car wrecks in Beaufort County. Specifically, we looked at the effect of our older driver population, the constant stream of out-of-area drivers who don't know the roads, the perception that it's safer to stay off the county's busy main arteries and the lack of lighted roads.

Here is what we found:

Click or tap each finding to dig deeper

PERCEPTION: OLDER DRIVERS A PROBLEM

VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE

PERCEPTION: OUT-OF-TOWNERS DANGEROUS

VERDICT: NOT TRUE

PERCEPTION: SIDE ROADS ARE SAFER

VERDICT: NOT TRUE

PERCEPTION: DARK ROADS ARE DEADLY

VERDICT: TRUE

This story was originally published March 7, 2015 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Who's making our roads dangerous?."