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Recently, the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) released comprehensive motor vehicle accident data for the year 2016. Statewide, there were 72,176 total crashes reported, collectively resulting in at least 23,035 injuries.
Notably, 4,884 car accident injuries took place within Tulsa County. In Tulsa County, there were 67.23 auto accident injuries reported per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. This is the third highest rate of car accident injuries in all of Oklahoma’s 77 counties. The statewide average is 47.13 car accident injuries per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. To put these numbers into perspective, this means that motor vehicle accident injuries happen in Tulsa County at a rate that is 42 percent higher than the average for counties in the state of Oklahoma.
The only two Oklahoma counties that had higher rates of car accident injuries than Tulsa County were Adair County and Garfield County. These are both relatively small and rural jurisdictions. In 2015, neither county ranked in the top ten for statewide crash rates, raising the possibility that 2016 is an outlier. Yet, in 2015, Tulsa County had the highest injury crash rate in the state. Further, in previous years, Tulsa County has consistently ranked near the bottom in traffic safety, with one of the highest injury crash rates in Oklahoma. This strongly suggests that highway safety is a sustained problem in the Tulsa metropolitan area.
Highway safety experts have weighed in, indicating that more needs to be done to promote safer roadways in Oklahoma. Tulsa car accident lawyer Charles Bryan Alred stated that “Car accidents have long been a major public safety problem in our region. Serious accidents can do tremendous damage to victims and their families. Our community would benefit greatly from safer roads.”
Another factor that makes the highway safety data for Tulsa County especially concerning is that Oklahoma itself is a high traffic accident state. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that car accident injuries occur in Oklahoma at a rate that is 27 percent higher than the national average. State and federal highway safety agencies have a stated goal of working with local law enforcement agencies and other partners in order to reduce accidents on our roadways.
Release ID: 319710