TULSA, Okla. — The first winter weather event of the season brought some sad statistics.
"Unfortunately, we saw lots and lots of wrecks," Captain Richard Meulenberg with Tulsa Police said.
Accidents occurred throughout Green Country and across the state on the morning of December 1. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported from midnight to 9:00am, they worked 101 injury crashes across Oklahoma, including two fatal wrecks. One of those happened north of downtown on Highway 75 just south of Mohawk Boulevard. Police identified the victim as 44-year-old Ashlea Justice.
"Not exactly sure what happened, if she hit an icy patch. That's still part of the investigation," Meulenberg said. "But she lost control of the vehicle, rolled down the embankment, rolled over on its top, and that woman died from those injuries."
Captain Meulenberg says the department came away surprised with the number of accidents caused by this round of winter weather.
"It just seemed like since there wasn't this really heavy snowfall, or heavy rain or sleeting, maybe they trusted the roads a bit more than they should have," Meulenberg said. "When they were actually very dangerous."
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation reminds people to take extra precautions during winter weather, including things like bringing your speed down, increasing following distance and avoid hard breaking or sharp turns. Captain Meulenberg sums it up by saying drivers can't maintain normal driving habits when the roads get slick.
"People maybe forget to slow down, and they drive a bit more aggressively," Meulenberg said. "Some drivers in Oklahoma are aggressive to begin with. So you add some weather elements into that, and it's just a recipe for disaster."
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