OKLAHOMA — It was a busy holiday weekend for the Oklahoma highway Patrol (OHP).
“We had eight fatalities this holiday statewide. Last year we only had six,” said Trooper Eric Foster.
More than they would like to have seen but it doesn’t hold a candle to how many accidents they responded to overall in a short matter of days.
“Approximately 397 non injury accident and 14 injuries statewide. That is a higher number than we have had,” Foster explained.
Troopers have warned about impaired driving ahead of the holidays but despite what you drank, took or did, there’s one thing they said maybe could have helped save lives.
“If they will just put a seat belt on. What we are running into is where they do not have a lot of damage necessarily but someone is not fastened in the chair that is manufactured to keep you safe,” said Foster.
Troopers tell me not only will a seatbelt save your life moving into the next busy holiday, but how fast you are traveling can also determine a drivers safety.
“We are still seeing a problem with excessive speed,” he said.
Trooper Foster says more people crashed or got into an accident than last year. He says that’s likely because people are traveling more after the pandemic years.
He says with these numbers of people should keep that in mind and be safe.
“That is why we do those checkpoints that is why we do those things number one from just knowing we are out there and that presence alone that will keep people from doing it and then we will have extra troopers are on the road that might not be scheduled on that day,” Foster said.
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