A 17-year-old driver was killed Thursday night when their vehicle left State Highway 100 in Cherokee County and slammed into a tree, authorities said. The single-vehicle crash caused the car to roll and land on its roof, and emergency crews pronounced the teen dead at the scene. The collision happened around 7 p.m. Thursday.
According to KTUL, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the vehicle veered off the roadway, went up an embankment and hit a tree before rolling over. Troopers told KTUL there were no other passengers in the vehicle and that the driver was not wearing a seat belt.
State troopers' account
The patrol’s preliminary account, that the vehicle left the road and struck a tree, matches the kind of deadly scenarios troopers regularly encounter on state highways. According to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, motor-vehicle fatalities in the state are often tied to driver behaviors such as not wearing seat belts, speeding, impairment and distraction.
Why teens are at higher risk
Nationally, motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for teenagers, and crash risk is especially high during the first months after a young driver gets licensed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also notes that seat-belt use is lowest among teen drivers, a pattern that raises the odds of fatal outcomes in single-vehicle crashes.
Investigation ongoing
Troopers are still investigating the crash and have not released the driver’s name, KTUL reports. As the inquiry continues, authorities typically ask anyone with information to contact the Oklahoma Highway Patrol or Cherokee County officials.
