Tulsa Police Issue Warning To UTV Drivers After Dangerous Crash

A warning from Tulsa Police after a bad crash on Riverside this week.

Tulsa police said you need a driver's license, proper tags, insurance, working lights and signals, and a working horn to legally drive UTVs on the roads. TPD said both the driver and passenger from the accident survived the crash.

“When you roll these vehicles you’re subject to head injuries and that’s what we’ve seen in this crash. The passenger actually suffered more injuries and had several lacerations on his head and we suspect that’s from him striking the roll cage," said Lieutenant Justin Farley.

Officers said the driver rolled over the median and didn't hit anyone else. Lt. Farley said the driver and passenger could have been seriously hurt and he's concerned about the increasing number of UTVs on the roads. 

“We see a lot of them and we’re starting to see more and more. So I want to warn motorists and they’re also a little bit more difficult to see than a car cause a lot of times they sit a little bit lower and they’re smaller vehicles," said Lt. Farley.

You can legally drive a UTV on the road, but Lt. Farley believes it is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured or killed. 

“Unfortunately what we see in the area of traffic safety is that a UTV is no match for a vehicle. Because of the weight displacement of the UTV versus a vehicle that UTV is going to lose when they crash every time. What I mean by lose is you may see the damage being more severe.”

Lt. Farley said not only are UTVs not as safe as cars, he is also seeing drivers speeding in them and said you can get the same speeding ticket as you would in a regular car or pickup truck.