Oklahoma Highway Patrol Patrolling For Drunk Drivers

Saturday, December 16th 2006, 8:49 pm

By: News On 6

Thereâ€™s a call for help from the highway patrol and President Bush. Both are urging Americans to take extra steps this weekend to make it to the holidays alive. The President has called for a nationwide push to prevent drunk driving and Oklahoma troopers are out in force.

News on 6 reporter Joshua Brakhage says two hands on the wheel, two eyes on the road, and three children at home. For OHP Trooper Antonio Porter, being a Highway Patrol trooper is more than a job; it's a calling.

"You never know what may happen, traffic may come to a sudden stop, and you're not paying attention, and there you go and you have an accident right there,â€ Trooper Porter said. "We have a lot of that here in Tulsa where motorists are maybe driving recklessly so we wanna make sure we're out here being very visible, and making sure the traffic is going at a natural flow."

A display on trooper Porterâ€™s dash lets him know how fast the drivers around him are going, and when everyone on the road is in danger.

"The reason you were pulled over? Pacing your speed. It's 60 and you were doing about 75 to 80."

And he knows things get tough around the holidays. Traffic picks up with Christmas shopping and travel, add holiday partiers to the mix, and you have a deadly combination.

"If they want to party, stay home, it's not worth the chance of someone losing their life and we have to go and knock on their door to advise them that they have just lost a loved one," said OHP trooper Porter.

That's why OHP is deputizing drivers, and your cell phone is your badge. One call to *55 and you'll be on the phone with dispatchers.

"We're scanning the hotspots, and when someone gives out a call, we're probably no more than 3 or 4 minutes away," Porter said.
Better yet, stop friends and family who've had too much to drink before they ever get on the road.

Troopers say last December, 71 people died on Oklahoma highways. That's up by 10 from December of 2004. The highway patrol says they're committed to seeing that number come down this year.