The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says that one person has died and two others are seriously hurt after a pickup truck driver made a dangerous and illegal maneuver near a tanker truck.
The crash happened around 9:30 today on the Turner Turnpike near Bristow, Oklahoma.
#Breaking one person dead and two others in critical condition after a crash on the Turner Turnpike near Bristow exit. pic.twitter.com/CGdyglt7qs
— Tristen Land (@TristenLandTV) December 1, 2017
According to police both the pickup and the tanker truck were traveling westbound on the turnpike near mile marker 196 just before the crash occurred. Police say that the pickup driver steered started to steer towards the shoulder of the road. The tanker truck moved over into the left lane, presumably to give the pickup room. Then the pickup made a sudden left turn in an attempt cut through a gap in the center concrete barrier of the Turnpike.
These gaps are for emergency vehicle use only.
The tanker truck driver was unable to stop and T-boned the pickup.
A female passenger in the pickup died as a result of the crash. The pickup driver and another passenger were taken to the hospital, but Oklahoma troopers say that their injuries are so severe that they might not survive.
The truck driver wasn’t hurt.
Using Illegal Turn Around Gap Is Common, Says OHP
Trooper Dwight Durant says that it is common for passenger vehicles to try to use the emergency-vehicle only gaps to turn around — and that the results are often deadly: “We work these crashes enough, and when we do work them, it’s usually a fatality because it’s a broadside impact at highway speed.”
The crash shut down several lanes of the Turnpike for hours, resulting in major traffic backups. All lanes had reopened by 1:30 p.m.