Smith slammed on the brakes, narrowly averting a broadside collision with the minivan, which never stopped or even slowed down. Even after the light turns green, Smith said, he routinely looks left and right before driving into the intersection. Smith has been driving the same West Columbia mail route for 10 years. But he says the dramatic increase in growth in the area has made driving more hazardous. It's just carelessness.
People get in a hurry and forget what they're doing.
Traffic through the intersection where Smith's near-accident occurred rose 56 percent in the past decade, according to DOT traffic counts. More traffic is the trend statewide. People drove 44 billion miles on S.C. roads in 1999, double the miles driven in 1980. But the amount of new roads to handle the volume hasn't kept pace. Traffic volume on interstates alone rose nearly 50 percent in the last decade, said Terecia Wilson, who heads traffic safety programs for the S.C. Department of Transportation.