Official Holiday Traffic Fatality Number Drops

Wednesday, July 5th 2006, 7:37 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma has managed not to establish a new record for Independence Day holiday weekend traffic fatalities. In fact, after further review, the old record wasn't even matched.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had reported yesterday that 18 people had been killed on state roads since the start of the five-day holiday weekend on Friday.

But OHP communications officer Fran Figard says tonight that a fatality accident involving an all-terrain vehicle on Saturday afternoon in Murray County should not have been counted on the OHP's list of road fatalities. That's because it happened in a pasture on private property.

That means the official total of deaths on Oklahoma roads during the holiday weekend that ended today was 17.

That's thought to be the second-highest total ever for the July 4th weekend, behind 1991, when 18 deaths were recorded.

Figard says that on Tuesday, no fatality accidents were reported.