OHP sees increase in crash-related calls due to winter weather, slick roads

TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) troopers told FOX23 that as soon as Tuesday’s new round of winter weather hit, so did new calls to respond to crashes.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, troopers say a very important message still hasn’t reached everyone who needs to hear it.

“If you don’t have to be out on the roadway … stay home,” said Trooper Ethan Mulkey. “Folks are just driving way too fast.”

The Tulsa area already saw plenty of crashes during the first round of winter weather Sunday night into Monday morning.

“At one time, between a 20 minute span, the highway patrol had between 18 and 25 crashes holding,” Mulkey said.

When winter weather round two began falling Tuesday morning, it became more of the same.

“A trooper rolled up on a crash just before 10 this morning … [the driver] spun off into the ditch,” Mulkey said.

That crash — on a ramp from I-44 to the Broken Arrow Expressway — involved a second car, which hit a concrete wall after trying to avoid the first one.

Mulkey said that crash and most of the others happening the past couple days share some commonalities.

“Speed and following too closely,” he said. “These on and off ramps real slick, and people are taking them way too fast.”

But even on the most remote of roads, drivers are still finding themselves in trouble.

A driver had to be rescued from a garbage truck after it slid off a slick road at Keystone State Park and flipped on its side Tuesday morning.

It’s a reminder that no one — and no vehicle — is immune to the forces of nature.

“To avoid all of it … be careful driving,” Mulkey said.

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