Tulsa Police Crack Down On Speeders On 169 And BA Expressway

Tulsa Police are cracking down on speeders along two of the heaviest traveled highways through the city.

Just between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday, officers wrote 99 speeding tickets and cited nearly 50 more drivers for other violations, Tulsa Police say.

The stepped-up efforts will last all month long and drivers need to know there won't be any warnings issued.

Officers with Tulsa's Mingo Valley Traffic Unit went over their plan and strategy to slow down drivers and to improve safety Thursday. Throughout March, officers will crack down on speeders along two of Tulsa's busiest highways.

"Highway 169 and the Broken Arrow Expressway are extremely busy, a lot of traffic and a lot of speeders," said Cpl. Brian Collum.

Officers will concentrate on a couple of highways that see a tremendous amount of drivers and a lot of accidents.

Collum said excessive speed is almost always to blame.

"If you get people doing 80 miles an hour, their reaction times are way less and the damage and injuries are way more at higher speeds," Collum said.

The officers will run radar and pull over speeders on Highway 169 between Interstate 244 and the Creek Turnpike, and the Broken Arrow Expressway between Sheridan and 129th East Avenue.

Collum said visibility is critical in getting drivers to slow down.

"It's the visibility, and it's people thinking that we may be out there that helps," he said.

Officers will pay special attention to construction zones and they won't issue any warnings.

"There is no tolerance," Collum said.

Speeders face fines ranging from $150 to $500, so driving too fast can cost serious money.

But officers say, more importantly, speeding could cost lives.

"It's rare when we have collisions up there that they are minor collisions, due to the speeds involved," Collum said.

Those two highways were selected for the month-long enforcement efforts, because they have so many drivers. The average traffic count on Highway 169 is 110,000 vehicles each day. On that stretch of the BA, it's 93,000 vehicles.