COMANCHE CO., Okla_ One man died in
a single-car rollover wreck today on Highway 62 just north of Cache.
The Oklahoma Highway
Patrol said it happened when his wife swerved off the road to avoid a piece of
metal, and then lost control of their SUV when she got back on the road. It rolled
three times.
The driver and
another passenger were taken to Comanche
County Memorial
Hospital with minor
injuries. OHP Trooper John Hoover said it's hard to find fault in this
accident, because the driver was forced to make a quick decision.
"It's a
tragic loss," Hoover
said. "People didn't take the time to think the consequences of their actions
from swerving and missing. I know it happens. You don't even think about it. Your
first reaction is to maybe swerve and miss something instead of hit it in the
roadway."
Trooper Hoover said it's best to
fight that reaction and brace yourself for impact.
"It may do
some damage to your vehicle," Hoover said, "But it's a whole lot better to hit
it and maybe do some damage to a tire and under carriage or the front spoiler
or something like that than the alternative that we have here.
He said too often
in his career, he's witnessed scenes like this when he's called to single-car
accidents.
"A lot of
our one-car rollovers out here are attributed to maybe some driver inattention,"
Hoover said. "Sometimes
they depart the roadway to the right and have the tendency to panic; they overcorrect
to the left."
Authorities diverted traffic of both eastbound lanes of Highway 62 to a
slow crawl in the median, but lanes reportedly reopened a little after 4:00 PM.
