OHP Troopers give more tickets to decrease fatal accidents - KTEN.com - No One Gets You Closer

OHP Troopers give more tickets to decrease fatal accidents

Posted:
By Jalah Gray - bio | email

  • Texoma Headlines

  • Over the past few days, generous folks from across Texoma and across the country have opened their hearts and provided the people of Moore, OK with donations and volunteer work as they recover from the

    Over the past few days, generous folks from across Texoma and across the country have opened their hearts and provided the people of Moore, OK with donations and volunteer work as they recover from the devastating EF-5 tornado that killed 24 people on Monday.

    However, there are numerous other communities across central Oklahoma that are also recovering from other damaging tornadoes that moved across central Oklahoma on both Sunday and Monday...

  • CALERA, OK--- A semi truck traveling northbound on Highway 75 flipped on its side this afternoon in Calera. It happened around 3 p.m. Calera police said the driver lost control of the wheel and drove across
    CALERA, OK--- A semi truck traveling northbound on Highway 75 flipped on its side this afternoon in Calera.

  • ARDMORE, OK-- With summer quickly approaching, Texoma pools will be opening their doors soon, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission has a warning for parents. Jenny Kassheimer is a mother of 4-year-old
    ARDMORE, OK-- With summer quickly approaching, Texoma pools will be opening their doors soon, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission has a warning for parents. Jenny Kassheimer is a mother of 4-year-old
    •   

DURANT, OK - No one wants to get pulled over by a state trooper, because in most cases you're surely getting a ticket, but OHP says they plan to give even more tickets this year, and it's all in a state wide effort to reduce the number of fatal accidents.

State troopers are used to seeing some pretty bad accidents.

"It's the worst part of the job, is working a fatality crash."

Ashley Hampton has been an OHP Trooper for about six years now, and she's seen her share of fatal accidents.

She says the worst part is breaking the news to the families.

"My very first one, the father actually rolled up on the crash and, didn't know it was his son, left, he had heard it might've been his son, then when I went to his work to tell him, he saw me and that was the worst part because he just fell over crying," said Hamilton.

But this year OHP is working to cut down on the number of deaths by increasing the number of tickets they're giving in high accident prone areas.

"We're putting troopers there and we're looking for more of the speeding, more of the following too closely, unsafe lane changes, improper turns, all the main hazardous moving violations," Hamilton.

And it seems their plan is already starting to work.

OHP says last year by February 20th, there had been 71 fatal accidents, but this year by the same date, there had only been 60 fatal accidents.

A declining pattern they hope will continue.

 "I think it's a significant difference, it shows that something is working," Hamilton said.

"It's a good thing, I've scraped up too many people off the side of the road," said a volunteer firefighter.

The report also showed that 52% of people who've died in traffic crashes this year, were not wearing seat belts.

 "Does that make you think twice about wearing your seat belt? Oh yea for sure, I think everybody should wear their seat belt."

TxDOT tells us the number of fatalities in Texas is also down this year.

In January of 2012 there were 249 accident fatalities, and this year in January there were only 204.