A 28-year-old Tulsa woman and a 58-year-old Michigan man are dead after their vehicles collided at one of the city's busiest highway interchanges Wednesday evening, an accident that also sent four passengers to the hospital. Vica Perez was driving in the outside lane of westbound Interstate 44 near the I-244 west split just before 6:30 p.m. when another vehicle crossed into her lane and struck her car, according to authorities.
The other driver, identified as Sheldon March, was traveling westbound on I-44 and attempting to merge onto I-244 when his vehicle crossed into the outside lane and hit Perez's car, according to KOKH. Both vehicles left the roadway after the impact. March and Perez were both killed in the crash, while two passengers in each vehicle suffered injuries, according to KRMG.
A Notoriously Tricky Merge Point
The crash happened at what locals call the west split, the interchange where westbound I-44 traffic splits toward downtown Tulsa via I-244, per the same KRMG report. It is a junction that requires drivers to make quick lane decisions in heavy traffic, and it sits along some of the oldest stretch of interstate in Oklahoma. The corridor between the west split and the Arkansas River predates the federal interstate system, originating before the mid-1950s, and it recently received a $45 million federal INFRA grant to replace aging bridges and widen the roadway to modern standards, according to KOCO.
State transportation officials have also poured money into the surrounding pavement in recent years. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation launched a $52 million pavement and bridge rehabilitation project along I-244 near the west split, aimed at resurfacing highway lanes and upgrading overpass structures through 2025, according to the agency's own travel advisory.
Lane-Change Law and Statewide Crash Trends
Oklahoma law requires drivers on multi-lane highways to signal at least 100 feet before changing lanes and bars a lane change unless it can be completed safely without impeding traffic, under Oklahoma Statute 47 O.S. § 11-309, as outlined by the Urbanic Law Firm. Improper lane changes remain one of the leading causes of multi-lane highway collisions statewide, alongside failure to yield, unsafe speed, following too closely, and driver inattention, according to a regional safety plan published by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments.
Tulsa County has long carried a heavy share of the state's crash toll. The county recorded 11,011 total traffic crashes in 2021 alone, resulting in 105 deaths and 342 serious injuries, according to data compiled by Snyder Chiropractic, ranking it second in the state behind Oklahoma County for both traffic volume and fatal wrecks. Statewide, total traffic fatalities actually fell 9.3 percent in 2024 to 645 deaths, down from 711 the year before, though fatalities tied to alcohol-impaired driving rose from 177 to 225 over that same span, per an analysis of state crash data by Addison Law Firm.
Part of a Deadly Pattern on I-44
Wednesday's crash adds to a string of severe wrecks along the I-44 corridor this year. In June, a Tulsa motorcyclist died on I-44 near Stroud after losing control on wet pavement, striking a barrier, and falling into active traffic lanes. And in July, an Owasso man was indicted by a federal grand jury on an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from a fiery multi-vehicle crash that killed a veteran Tulsa fire lieutenant, underscoring how aggressively local and federal authorities pursue serious traffic fatality cases in the region.
It remains unclear whether construction activity or visibility issues at the west split played any role in Wednesday's collision, and officials have not indicated whether March will face any citation in connection with the crash. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has not released further details on the condition of the four injured passengers.
