Tulsa Highway Conditions Blamed For Crash That Killed Motorcyclist

A Tulsa woman wants the state to fix a highway, after she believes potholes caused her mother to crash her motorcycle and die over the weekend.

Police said Kelly Stokes was driving from Highway 169 North, making the loop to get on I-244 West when she hit two pot holes, lost control, and was thrown from her motorcycle.

Tulsa Police traffic investigators said this is now the second motorcyclist to die in a crash in that exact spot in the last 45 days.

Kelly Stokes' daughter said the road has to get fixed so no other family has to go through this.

"She spent all her life making sure that me, all my friends and her family we absolutely taken care of,” said Kelly’s Daughter, Brittany Love Stokes. "She just had a good heart. She always found good in everyone. Everyone."

Brittany said her mom Kelly loved to ride motorcycles and had been riding for more than 20 years.

"Mom always said that her first marriage was to a Harley and she got the guy that went with the Harley,” said Brittany.

Kelly was out for a ride on her three wheel trike Sunday evening with her husband and some friends when she exited Highway 169 to the on ramp to go West on 244.

Witnesses told police that Kelly hit a pot hole, lost control, and was able to regain control before hitting another pothole, which slammed her into the guardrail and she was thrown from her trike.

Witnesses said Kelly wasn't speeding and they believe the terrible condition of the road is to blame.

"I honestly don't think and don't care how experienced you are, there are just some thing you can't expect and you can't anticipate,” said Brittany.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation sent News On 6 a statement that says:

“The Oklahoma Department of Transportation was saddened to learn of the fatality crash during the weekend at the interchange of I-244 and US-169 in Tulsa. Any loss of life due to a crash is a tragedy. ODOT has requested an official incident report from law enforcement, but has not received it yet and cannot speculate regarding a cause of the crash. After any fatality crash on the highway system, the department reviews all information as it becomes available as part of a safety assessment of site conditions at the time. Safety of the traveling public is ODOT’s top priority and the department is constantly evaluating and improving the highway system for safety. The northbound US-169 to westbound I-244 ramp is scheduled for replacement with work beginning in the coming weeks. As part of that work, some resurfacing work will be done on the ramp.”

“It should be fixed. No one else should have to sit here and have this same conversation,” said Brittany.

ODOT said after every fatality crash, it does a safety assessment of the road conditions in that location.