TPD: Aggressive Speeding Leading To Crashes In The City

Tulsa police said it's seeing an alarming trend of speeding on city streets. Monday, an officer clocked a driver going 94MPH and another going 103MPH on the Broken Arrow Expressway during the morning rush hour.

Each Tulsa traffic unit has a board that shows the number of deadly car accidents and the cause of those accidents. The board at the Riverside division shows since the beginning of the year, there have been 14 deadly car wrecks in their area, four were caused by speeding.

"People aren't wearing their seatbelts like they should. People are intoxicated. They're at risky behaviors in a car. Cars are more powerful. There's just a lot of things going on to cause extreme situations where people are dying," Sergeant Will Dalsing said.

Officers started noticing drivers going above the speed limit during the pandemic when fewer drivers were on the road. Now, with more people back on the road, they're still speeding and not just be a few miles over the limit, but by 15 or 20MPH. Officers are writing hundreds of tickets for aggravated speeding.

The Gilcrease Division has had 20 deadly crashes and 10 of them are speed-related. Mingo Valley has had 22 fatal crashes, with five caused by speed. Sergeant Dalsing said younger drivers are dying in crashes. “People are still taking really crazy risks when they’re driving and speed has always been a factor in that risk. It’s really heartbreaking that these people have essentially are killing themselves in cars," Sergeant Dalsing said.

Police said they are focusing on those aggravated speeding cases, which is 20 or more over the speed limit, which is an automatic trip to court and could cost nearly $500.