PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

In FY 1996, there were 73,824 crashes in the State of Oklahoma. Of these crashes, 14,809 involved injuries and/or fatalities. A large percentage of these crashes occurred in or near small towns and cities not located within the major metropolitan pockets of Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, speed has been determined as the number one causational factor in crashes.

Operation S.T.O.R.M.S. (Start Taking Oklahoma Roads More Seriously) was developed to address this problem and help reduce the frequency of crashes in Oklahoma. Operation S.T.O.R.M.S. provided law enforcement officers the necessary tools to better serve the motoring public by increasing contacts with drivers and reducing the number of dangerous drivers on the roadways. Operation S.T.O.R.M.S. additionally examines location crash data from the previous year to determine the goals and objectives for selected sites.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The program’s goal was to increase traffic enforcement along highway corridors to reduce traffic crashes, thus reducing fatalities and injuries in Oklahoma.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

Municipal and county law enforcement agencies along the selected roadways were solicited to participate in this project. Program developers determined that once large Oklahoma municipalities were factored out of the traffic crash data, a great number of crashes occurred on rural roadways. These corridors are covered by small law enforcement agencies that are not large enough to facilitate a normal highway safety grant.

The program activity was kicked off by an Oklahoma Highway Safety Office “road tour” making stops at pre-planned locations along the selected highway corridor(s) for a high-visibility media event. City, county, and state leaders along with all facets of media attended these events. The selected agencies received in-car video cameras and/or radar equipment. This equipment was used to detect or arrest of traffic law violators in the areas of, but not limited to speed, driver error, Driving Under the Influence (DUI) or Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), and occupant protection. Agencies also received Public Information and Education (PI&E) materials to conduct active traffic enforcement and informational or educational presentations. The receiving agencies were obligated to report Operation S.T.O.R.M.S. activity for each calendar quarter for a period of three years. This collected data is kept in a database for future use and evaluation.

RESULTS

Operation S.T.O.R.M.S. was conducted from 1996 to 1999. Over 1,100 miles of state and federal highways were canvassed. At its peak, over 100 law enforcement agencies were active partners. Approximately $750,000 has been spent over those four years on operational costs, radars or in-car video cameras and PI&E endeavors. Initial raw data has been collected along the affected highway corridors for Operation S.T.O.R.M.S. in 1996 and 1997, for comparison with previous years. However, the impact of the first year will be hard to determine, due to the state’s increased speed limit law.

   FALL 2001