Troopers report uptick in wrecks on Oklahoma roadways

DURANT, Oklahoma (KXII) - The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has seen an uptick in crashes on Oklahoma roadways, with 163 wrecks in the month of September alone.

In those crashes, more than a dozen people were killed.

“Unfortunately they’re becoming all too regular for us,” said Troop E Captain Scott Hampton.

Since September 1, there have been 72 crashes reported by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troop E. That’s Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, McCurtain and Pushmataha Counties.

“We’ve got multiple collisions that involved impaired drivers, crossing the center line, running off the road, injuring occupants of their vehicle, reckless drivers passing in no passing zones. It’s all over the place as to cause and locations, but we’re definitely seeing a pretty significant uptick in these two areas,” Capt. Hampton said.

Of those 72 crashes, six have had deaths.

“Depending on the ongoing investigations we’re currently working, between 13 to 14 people (are) dead,” said Capt. Hampton.

In Troop F, which includes Carter, Garvin, Johnston, Marshall, Murray, Love and Ponotoc Counties, six people were killed in 91 car wrecks this month, many of those Capt. Hampton says could’ve easily been prevented.

“You know we’ve been talking about seatbelts very prominently for the past 20 years and quite a few of our fatalities were preventable if they wore seatbelts,” said Capt. Hampton.

Troopers say the outcome of their reports all comes down to one thing; what’s going on behind the wheel.

“Whether it be impairment, speed, distraction- all of those things are leading to a lot more people passing away out on Oklahoma’s roads,” said Capt. Hampton. “Anything that all of us can do to reduce that, we need to be doing that.”

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