Robert Jonathan "Johnny" Shugerts

An early morning wreck July 26 took the life of a Springfield man.

Robert Jonathan "Johnny" Shugerts, 34, of 113 Texas St., Springfield, died after his 2003 Ford pickup truck ran off the road and flipped.

The wreck occurred on S.C. 37 near Willis Pond Road northeast of Elko at about 3:45 a.m., Sunday morning.

Shugerts truck was northbound on S.C. 37 when it strayed across the oncoming lane and ran off the left side of the highway. Shugerts then overcorrected his steering, causing the truck to go all the way back to the right side of the road. The truck then dropped off the right shoulder and flipped, said Sgt. Kelley Hughes of the S.C. Highway Patrol.

Shugerts was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the truck, Hughes said.

Barnwell County Coroner Lloyd Ward said Shugerts "died of head and chest trauma."

"My opinion is that he fall asleep and ran off the left-hand side of the road," he said.

Ward said the truck flipped at least once. The road where the wreck occurred has an eight-foot drop-off on its right side.

When Ward responded to the wreck, the truck was down the embankment below the level of the road, he said.

"The help of the Williston Rescue Squad and the Elko Fire Department were greatly appreciated," Ward said.

Many times when the wreck involves one vehicle and a fatality, someone is thrown from the vehicle, he said.

"Generally, when it's a one-car collision and they died from it - it's from an ejection," Ward said.

The wreck stresses the importance of drivers and passengers to use seat belts. The cab of Shugerts' truck was still intact after the wreck, he said.

"I can't tell you he would have survived - I don't have that power - but his chances of survival would have been greater had he been buckled in," Ward said.

Shugerts had no passengers with him.

This makes the third traffic fatality in Barnwell County for this year, Ward said.

Statistically so far, 2009 has been a better year in terms of fewer traffic deaths. Last year, the county had nine road casualties, he said.