Wrecks in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY – Comanche County ranked fourth in the state for alcohol-related and for drug-related vehicle crashes in 2018, records compiled by the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) show.
Of the 3,109 wrecks in which alcohol was a contributing factor, 61.37% of them occurred in urban areas and 38.63% occurred in rural areas. However, the number of alcohol-related fatal crashes that occurred in rural areas (94) was almost double the number of fatal wrecks which occurred in urban areas (53).
Conversely, the number of non-injury alcohol-related wrecks that occurred in urban areas (1,114) was nearly double the number of non-injury alcohol-related crashes investigated in rural areas (583). Of the 914 wrecks in Oklahoma in 2018 in which drugs were involved, 522 of them (57%) occurred in urban areas and 392 of them (43%) occurred in urban areas, OHSO records reflect. However, of the 190 fatal crashes attributed to drugs, 134 of them (70.5%) occurred in rural areas and 56 of them (29.5%) occurred in urban settings.
But the number of non-injury drug-related accidents that occurred in urban areas (253) was double the number that occurred in rural areas (126). All but 13 of the 107 drivers who had an “alcohol-related condition” in the fatality traffic accidents in 2018 ranged in age from 20 to 59. Similarly, all but 12 of the 102 drivers who had a “drug-related condition” in fatality crashes in 2018 ranged in age from 20 to 64. And among both groups, the drivers were predominantly male. The greatest number of alcohol-related fatal wrecks in 2018 occurred in October, but April was the month with the highest number of drug-related fatal crashes that year.