South Carolina ranked second deadliest state for DUI accidents

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) -

Thousands of South Carolinians are busy enjoying their labor day with festivities that may include alcohol, that's why troopers are asking people to be extra careful, and think twice before getting behind the wheel after drinking. The newest results rank South Carolina as the second deadliest state in the country for impaired-driving related deaths.

Kelly Martin Dehay's three-year-old daughter was killed when a drunk driver hit their car in 2007.

"I blacked out, that's when he crashed into us," Dehay said.

She says she can still picture the moment her life fell apart and that the pictures of her daughter in the mangled car still haunt her.

"That grill was imprinted on my little girl's face," Dehay said.

She and her kids were less than a mile from their home when they were hit, and she says now her life has a hole.

"I buried part of me when I buried my daughter," Dehay said.

According to Safewise, about eight out of every 100,000 South Carolinians will be killed this year by an impaired driver. With around 5 million residents, that's at least 400 fatalities a year. We are four deaths away from that number now, and its only September.

To compare, Safewise projected Georgia and North Carolina to have about 200 DUI related fatalities per state this year, that's 50% less than South Carolina.

Kelly says she will never understand why people think driving after drinking is okay.

"You can get home on Uber or Lyft for the price of a burger versus paying $20,000 for a lawyer if you kill someone," Dehay said

On this Labor Day, Dehay says she is begging everyone to think of her little girl before they make a deadly decision.

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.


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