A driver died overnight after a car ran off U.S. 601 near Kershaw and slammed into a tree, leaving South Carolina Highway Patrol investigators searching for witnesses to a crash that unfolded on a dark stretch of roadway just after 10 p.m. Saturday. The driver has not been identified.
According to WCNC, investigators said a 2019 Toyota sedan was traveling north on Kershaw Camden Highway, also known as U.S. 601, near Hal Williams Road when it left the right side of the road and hit a tree. The driver was fatally injured in the crash, the outlet reported, citing a South Carolina Highway Patrol statement.
South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers responded to the scene on U.S. 601 Saturday night, but the agency has released few additional details so far. The crash remains under investigation, and witnesses have been asked to call the South Carolina Highway Patrol with any information.
A Stretch of US-601 With a Recent History
This is not the first fatal wreck to strike this part of Lancaster County's U.S. 601 corridor this year. In May, a driver died after a 2006 Lexus GS300 traveling north on U.S. 601 went off the road and struck a tree near Little Dude Avenue, about a mile north of Kershaw, according to WCCB Charlotte. In that earlier crash, the vehicle veered off the left side of the road rather than the right, and the driver, the car's sole occupant, was pronounced dead at the scene. It remains unclear whether speed or impairment played a role in that incident, the station reported, and the available evidence does not establish any connection between the two crashes.
Lancaster County has pointed to roadway safety as an ongoing priority. The county describes its Safety Action Plan, which draws on recent crash data from the South Carolina Department of Transportation, as “our county's foundation to improve roadway safety,” according to a notice posted by Lancaster County. Statewide, the South Carolina Department of Public Safety tracks fatal collisions on a rolling basis, with its most recent public figures listed as preliminary and compiled through late in the day on October 11, according to the agency's own tracking page at scdps.sc.gov.
Investigation Continues
No further details about Saturday's crash, including the driver's identity or what may have caused the Toyota to leave the roadway, had been released as of publication. Anyone who witnessed the crash is encouraged to come forward to the South Carolina Highway Patrol as the investigation continues.
