Pickup slams into golf cart trying to cross highway

Victim not wearing seat belt, ejected 18 feet from cart

A golf cart driver was killed on Saturday night on State Highway 9 in Pittsburg County.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol report listed that Lawrence Dillard had the odor of alcohol on him at the time of the accident.

When asked if golf carts are supposed to be on the highway, OHP Trooper Tim Wesley tells KRMG,  "They're not supposed to be crossing the highway. And technically, they don't when we're around, but when we're not around they usually do 'cause people tell us about it all the time.'"

Trooper Wesley says, "This is my first golf car versus car accident. We have regular golf carts and off road type golf carts. We get those more often than not on county roads where people might flip them over or have rollovers that usually have driver error that causes it."

Dillard was driving the golf cart around 8 pm Saturday night and was attempting to get gas at a convenience station at the intersection of Fisher Road and SH 9.

Lawanda Brissette, the driver of a 1992 pickup, swerved to avoid hitting Dillard, but struck the golf cart on the front passenger side.

Dillard was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected 18 feet from the cart.

He was taken to Eufaula Hospital with multiple injuries where he later died.

Dillard was 33 years old and lived in Norman.

OHP statistics show that there were 11 fatalities on Oklahoma highways last Memorial Day weekend including 91 DUIs, 160 collisions and 16 of those being alcohol-related.