A 35-year-old Ringling man is dead after the Can-Am UTV he was riding in left a rural Carter County road and slammed into a tree Saturday night. Joseph Wheeler was a passenger in the off-road vehicle when it crashed just before 7:10 p.m., and troopers say he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.
Wheeler was traveling east on Faith Hill Road when the UTV left the roadway and struck a tree, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. He died from his injuries. The driver of the UTV was also hurt, though troopers have not released details about how serious those injuries were.
According to KTEN, the driver got off the road for an unknown reason before the UTV hit the tree and began to roll. The station reported that the driver was flown to a hospital in Oklahoma City following the crash. No cause for why the vehicle left the roadway has been confirmed.
A Pattern of Deadly Off-Road Crashes in Oklahoma
Saturday's wreck is the latest in a string of serious UTV and ATV crashes across the state. Oklahoma leads the nation in deadly ATV crashes per capita, the station previously reported in its coverage of off-road vehicle safety.
Last year, a UTV crash north of Prague killed a 10-year-old boy who was driving and critically injured a 12-year-old girl riding with him, according to News On 6. Troopers said that UTV was traveling at an unsafe speed on County Road 3570 when it left the road, rolled into a ditch and ejected the young driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The girl was flown by MediFlight to OU Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City in critical condition, while a 3-year-old boy also in the vehicle was not injured. That crash remained under investigation, News On 6 reported.
State officials point to familiar risk factors behind many of Oklahoma's fatal crashes. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office says most motor vehicle fatalities in the state stem from driver behaviors such as impaired driving, speeding, distracted driving and failure to wear a seat belt.
