A northbound vehicle left State Highway 6 in Jackson County early Thursday, rolled into a ditch, and left one person dead and a passenger injured.
Texoma's Homepage, citing the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, reported the crash at 3 a.m. on Nov. 12. The vehicle failed to negotiate a curve, left the roadway to the right, and rolled into a ditch.
Adrian Brooks of Hobart
The driver, Adrian Brooks, 49, of Hobart, was pronounced dead. The passenger was injured.
Seatbelts and Family Notification
OHP said not all occupants were wearing seatbelts. Next of kin have been notified.
Oklahoma law requires drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts, and officers may stop a vehicle solely for a seat-belt violation. The law applies regardless of whether a crash occurs; the available crash account does not say which occupant or occupants were unrestrained. Seat belts also reduce the risk of fatal injury in a crash: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates a 45% reduction for front-seat occupants of passenger cars and 60% for occupants of light trucks. Oklahoma’s seat-belt law and federal safety estimates underscore why restraint use matters.
The seat-belt finding comes amid persistently incomplete use statewide: an Oklahoma Highway Safety Office survey observed 86.4% of drivers and front-seat passengers buckled in 2024, up from 81.2% in 2023. Use varied by vehicle type: 80.1% of pickup occupants observed were restrained, compared with 88.5% of occupants in cars, vans and SUVs. The survey gathered observations at 180 sites in 15 counties, including on local and rural roads. The statewide study’s results put the crash’s seat-belt detail in a broader safety context.
