Orangeburg is no stranger to tragedy on the road. Already in 2025, at least three people have died in car crashes in this county alone. And it’s only early in the year. In 2024, 46 people lost their lives in car accidents here. South Carolina, as a whole, had at least 948 crash-related deaths last year.
Just recently, at about 5:30 p.m., a regular Saturday turned into a nightmare. Shedrick Calloway Jr., a 28-year-old local, was driving eastbound in a 2013 Honda Accord. At the intersection of U.S. 178 and Kennerly Road, his car collided head-on with a 1997 Ford Expedition.
Shedrick died right there on the road. He didn’t make it to wherever he was headed; he didn’t get a chance to hire a car accident lawyer in Orangeburg and fight legally. The other driver walked away unharmed. We don’t yet know what caused the crash, the investigation is still ongoing. But one thing’s certain: people in Orangeburg are dying on these roads.
So why do these crashes keep happening? What are people doing behind the wheel that’s so dangerous?
Distracted Driving
This is the #1 killer on the roads. And it’s not always something obvious like texting. Phones are the biggest culprits, but distraction comes in a lot of forms, such as eating, talking to passengers, daydreaming, or fiddling with the radio.
In South Carolina, thousands of crashes every year are caused by simple inattention. It’s what safety experts call a recognition error, that is, when your eyes might be open, but your brain is not really seeing.
The U.S. Department of Transportation found that 41% of driver-caused crashes are due to recognition errors like these.
Speeding and Running Red Lights
These fall under decision errors, which cause another 33% of crashes. These are things like going too fast for the road, ignoring traffic signals, blowing through stop signs, or refusing to yield.
Speeding is the biggest player in this group. You can be driving 45 in a 45 and still be driving too fast if the road is wet or traffic is thick.
People in Orangeburg and all over South Carolina are dying because others decide to gamble with red lights, speed limits, and right-of-way. And unlike casino bets, the stakes here are life or death.
Being Drunk or High Behind the Wheel
This is another type of decision error and probably the most dangerous one of all. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs wrecks your judgment, slows your reaction time, and makes you a threat to everyone on the road.
In 2020 alone, over 5,000 crashes in South Carolina were caused by impaired drivers. That’s 5,000 chances for a tragedy. When someone’s under the influence, they can’t focus, they can’t react, and they often can’t even stay in the right lane.
Drunk and drugged driving doesn’t just hurt the person behind the wheel. It kills innocent people, like Shedrick, who might have just been heading home, minding his business.
Driving While Tired
People don’t think of this as dangerous, but it is. Falling asleep at the wheel or even just driving while drowsy can be just as deadly as being drunk. That’s because your reaction time slows down. You stop scanning the road, and you might even nod off, and just like that, you’re veering into the opposite lane.
This is called a non-performance error, and it accounts for about 7% of crashes. And honestly, that number might be even higher, because a lot of tired-driving crashes go underreported.
Losing Control
Sometimes the drivers are not able to handle the car itself. The technical term is a performance error, which accounts for about 11% of crashes. That might not sound like a lot, but think about what it means: you took a turn too fast, slammed the brakes too hard, and overcorrected after drifting off the road.
Loss of control happens fast, especially when drivers panic or don’t know how to react in a tight spot.
Conclusion
If you live in Orangeburg or drive through its roads, you should always remember that there’s a lot we have to do to prevent crashes. A majority of these crashes are preventable.
And if we don’t start paying attention, following the rules, and respecting the danger, we’re going to keep losing people, probably more good people like Shedrick.
