A 24-year-old Chouteau man died early Thursday after his vehicle hydroplaned off a rain-slicked stretch of U.S. Highway 412 in Mayes County, crossed the center line, and slammed into a tree. Blaine Steddums was pronounced dead at the scene, and a passenger riding with him was injured in the crash.
According to the KTUL, Steddums was driving eastbound on Highway 412 near South 437 just after midnight when he lost control of his vehicle at a curve. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported that he ran off the road to the left before striking the tree, and the agency said the passenger in his vehicle suffered injuries in the wreck. The road was wet at the time, and separate local coverage from the Tulsa World noted that rain-soaked conditions along the highway contributed to the loss of control at the curve.
Steddums hailed from Chouteau, the second-largest town in Mayes County with a population of 2,059 as of the 2020 U.S. Census, per Wikipedia. The stretch of Highway 412 where the crash occurred is part of a 504-mile east-west corridor linking the Tulsa metro area to northwestern Arkansas, carrying heavy passenger and freight traffic through northeastern Oklahoma, the same source notes.
A County Already Under Scrutiny For Deadly Roads
The crash adds to a troubling run of fatal wrecks on Mayes County's rural highway network. Just five days earlier, on September 26, a 57-year-old Pryor man died in a nearly identical scenario, losing control on a curve along State Highway 82 and striking a tree, according to prior Hoodline reporting.
Federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System records show Mayes County has logged 105 fatal crash records, placing it among the top 11 counties in Oklahoma for overall roadway deaths, per that same report. Statewide, single-vehicle crashes accounted for 48 percent of Oklahoma's 718 total traffic fatalities in 2023, underscoring how common run-off-road collisions like this one have become across the state's rural highways.
Just ten days before Steddums' crash, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's ENDUI team partnered with the Mayes County Sheriff's Office and local police for an impairment checkpoint and saturation patrol across the county, according to a notice from Oklahoma.gov. The mobilization was driven by the county's high traffic fatality data.
Highway Design and Future Upgrades
East of Chouteau, Highway 412 connects to the Cherokee Turnpike, a four-lane toll highway with an 80 mph posted speed limit maintained by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, while the non-tolled Highway 412 Alternate maintains a 55 mph limit, according to Wikipedia. The shifting speed limits and road conditions along the corridor have drawn attention as state officials weigh long-term changes to the route.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration launched a Planning and Environmental Linkages study in 2022 to evaluate converting the Highway 412 corridor through Mayes County into an official federal interstate, a project spanning nine Oklahoma counties, per state records.
Under Oklahoma Statutes Title 47 Section 12-417, all operators and front-seat passengers in passenger vehicles are required to wear properly adjusted safety belts, with violations carrying a maximum fine of $20, according to Justia Law. The statute does not carry license points for noncompliance. Investigators have not released further details on the condition of the injured passenger.
