ARDMORE, OK -- Cars should go straight down the interstate, but when they don't, ODOT wants to make sure they're not headed straight for you.
"They're putting in another 12 or 13 miles of cable. We take care of 60 miles," ODOT Carter County Maintenance Superintendent Mike Morton explains.
That makes more than 40 continuous miles of interstate cable barriers between the Red River and Carter County. Test video shows the small structures stopping big vehicles, but if your car runs off the road, it's also stopping emergency services.
"If we have an accident, say, at the 34 mile marker southbound, we have to go all the way to the Springer exit and turn around, then fight traffic back to get to the accident," Ardmore Fire Chief Cary Williamson said.
The cables stretch for miles with no break. That leaves no place for fire and ambulance crews to cut in if they are coming from the opposite direction.
"Its very difficult. We just have to work our way up on the shoulder," Williamson said.
Chief Williamson acknowledges that even though response times can be hindered, the cables are doing their job.
"They are doing what they're designed to do; they've almost eliminated fatalities from head on collisions."
Studies of collision reports show almost no deaths from head on wrecks where the cables are installed. An added bonus is that they are relatively inexpensive to install and repair. Morton says the state is also being mindful of where they put them.
"Places where the median is wider, you don't have as much of a danger of someone going across. I don't expect to see any put there," said Morton.
But for Williamson, there is a simple compromise.
"I just wish we had more turn arounds. you see in other states that they have one every mile. Even one mile would make a big difference in our response times," Williamson said.
The state will continue the safety installation, hoping the cables will prevent more accidents to respond to in the first place.
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