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Car flips and crashes into utility pole by Midlands road, killing driver, SC cops say

One person was killed in a crash where a car ran off a Midlands road and flipped over, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The single-vehicle collision happened at about 10 p.m. Tuesday on a stretch of U.S. 176 in Orangeburg County, Master Trooper Brandon Bolt said.

A 2007 Toyota Camry was driving west on U.S. 176 and tried to pass another vehicle but ran off the left side of the road, according to Bolt. The car then veered across U.S. 176 and went off the right side of the road, where it hit a guard rail, overturned and crashed into a utility pole, Bolt said.

The driver, who was the only person in the car, died, according to Bolt.

The Orangeburg County Coroner’s Office has not publicly identified the driver.

No other injuries were reported.

There was no word if the victim wore a seat belt, but the collision continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol.

Through Sunday, 766 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2022, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,194 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.

At least 31 people have died in Orangeburg County crashes in 2022, DPS reported. Last year, 45 deaths were reported there, according to DPS data.

This is the fourth deadly collision in Orangeburg County in a nine-day stretch.

On Sept. 18, an ATV crashed and flipped over into a creek, killing the driver, the Highway Patrol said.

On Saturday, a person died in a Richland County hospital three days after being involved in a crash on an Orangeburg County road. The person was one of five occupants, and the other four were hospitalized Wednesday after the vehicle ran off the road, hit a ditch and flipped over, according to the Highway Patrol.

On Sunday, a driver was killed and a passenger was hospitalized with injuries from a crash on a stretch of U.S. 601 in Orangeburg County, where a car crossed the median and went off the left side of the road, hit a tree and flipped over, the Highway Patrol said.