By Paige Orr, FOX23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — The average person makes thousands of decisions per day, but safety data from OSHA showed that behind the wheel, drivers make over 200 decisions for every single mile traveled.
A new study from the Gorospe Law Group analyzed five years of city data from 2017 to 2021 to pinpoint where drivers in Tulsa are most at risk.
According to the research, the intersection of East Admiral Place and South Memorial Drive topped the list as the most dangerous intersection in the city, recording 63 crashes and the only fatality among top spots.
“These are major arterial roads here in Tulsa, with arterial road speeds [and] multiple lanes,” said Anthony Gorospe, founding attorney for Gorospe Law Group. “A lot of them are near major highways, so a lot of merging and exiting going on and a lot of businesses are very close to pretty much all these intersections, as well.”
Gorospe, a longtime Tulsan, said the findings were not necessarily surprising given the layout of the city’s busiest corridors. Many of the top locations sit directly adjacent to high-speed highways, major thoroughfares, or heavily trafficked commercial centers where drivers must navigate multiple distractions at once.
For instance, East 71st Street appeared twice on the list near high-density shopping areas and major highway ramps.
“They may be paying attention to and observing oncoming traffic as they’re making a left turn,” Gorospe said. “They may be anticipating needing to get on 169, or they just got off of 169, or they’re looking for traffic coming in and out of the businesses that are just sitting there.”
Between 2017 and 2021, Tulsa’s top 10 most accident-prone intersections accounted for more than 500 crashes and over 400 injuries.
Researchers noted that the combination of high speeds, complex lane layouts, and brief moments of driver distraction significantly increase the likelihood of a severe collision.
Gorospe emphasized that while drivers cannot control the actions of others, taking extra precautions at large intersections can prevent critical wrecks.
“Don’t just assume because our light is green that you have a fair pass through the intersection,” Gorospe said. “These are large intersections. That’s another thing; they’re all very large. Give yourself a little extra time when you’re turning left, and adjust to make sure that you’re not just looking for where you’re going, but observing your surroundings.”
To view the full study and explore the interactive map of Tulsa’s top dangerous intersections, click here.
