Tulsa Police Issue More Speeding Tickets To Crack Down On Dangerous Drivers

Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin says one of his top priorities for 2024 is to cut down the number of people dying in car crashes in the city.

He says they worked hard last year, but it’s still such a big problem they’re going to do even more to catch dangerous drivers this year.

And it already started this week. It was like shooting fish in a barrel for the Gilcrease Division Traffic Unit on Wednesday afternoon on Highway 169 because they caught so many people breaking the law in such a short amount of time. They clocked 41 speeders in two hours in one area.

Tulsa set a record in 2021 with 69 people being killed in car crashes. Chief Franklin says even with more officers enforcing traffic laws, people are still driving way too fast, sometimes more than 100 miles per hour.

"We are still seeing the motoring public do some off-the-wall stuff in vehicles, so we really need to get a grasp on what is happening on our roadways,” said Franklin.

TPD’s northside traffic unit was at Highway 169 near 36th Street North Wednesday to crack down on dangerous drivers, and officers ticketed 41 people for speeding from noon to 2 p.m., including one person going 107 miles per hour. Plus, five people were ticketed for not having insurance, three were driving with a suspended license or didn’t have one, two weren't wearing seatbelts, and one person had an expired tag.

Tulsa Police posted a dash cam video in September of a driver passing an officer at 100 miles per hour in a 65.

"The increased speeds on the highways have led to a lot of fatality collisions, a lot of serious collisions, so we are going to focus in on that as well,” said Franklin. 

Tulsa Police sends out a survey every year asking citizens what their top concerns are and traffic is always at the top.

"Everyone should be safe on the roads, that's one of those no-brainers there, and we know that we can impact that and influence that by being proactive by issuing citations, so we are going to continue to do that,” said Franklin.