Lives on the line: Every Oklahoma teen driver to learn the impact of impaired driving

Oklahoma Department of Transportation

PR# 25-035

October 21, 2025

As National Teen Driver Safety Week kicked off, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Oklahoma Turnpike Authority announced that the Oklahoma Work Zone Safe Course, required for all new teen drivers before receiving an Oklahoma driver’s license, will now include a section on impaired driving.

Edmond Representative Nicole Miller joined attendees on Monday at Merkley’s Driving School in Edmond, hearing from Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Lt. Eric Foster, hit by an impaired driver in a work zone and Jeff Murrow with Victims of Impaired Driving. Additional comments were offered by state agencies and the founder of Work Zone Safe. Other attendees included    local officials, safety organizations and friends and family impacted by impaired driving.

"Impaired driving in Oklahoma is heartbreaking and always preventable. The new impaired driving section of the Oklahoma Work Zone Safe Course protects drivers, passengers, workers and first responders by ensuring teens learn before they are licensed that impaired driving has real consequences and lives are on the line," Oklahoma Department of Transportation Executive Director Tim Gatz said.

In November 2023, Oklahoma became the first state in the nation to pass into law for all teen drivers to complete the free Oklahoma Work Zone and Move Over Safe online course—a program on safely navigating work zones and moving over for first responders—before applying for their intermediate driver licenses.

“We’re seeing an increase in crashes for a variety of reasons, but what we most want to share with teen drivers is that these tragedies are entirely preventable. Every time a teen driver gets behind a wheel, they can make choices that impact not just their safety but that of other motorists on the roadway. We want to encourage all drivers – not just teens – to drive sober and to always buckle their seat belts,” Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Executive Director Joe Echelle said.

Now, teens completing the new impaired driving section of the Oklahoma Work Zone Safe Course will learn:

• Impaired driving is 100% preventable.

• Every year in Oklahoma, more than 400 lives are lost to impaired driving crashes — that’s an average of more than one every single day.

• A medical marijuana card does not permit impaired driving.

• Short and long-term consequences include arrest, fines, court costs, jail time or a criminal record, prison sentence, limited job opportunities.

• Real Oklahoma stories of lives, families and communities forever changed by impaired driving.

Stories shared with Oklahoma teens in the course:

• Edmond Police Sgt. C.J. Nelson, killed by an impaired driver

• UCO student and Mustang High School Valedictorian Marissa Murrow, killed by a wrong-way impaired driver on the Oklahoma Turnpike

• Jeremi Smith and Ryan Begnaud, both killed by a young, impaired driver

Founded by Edmond resident Tom Robins, the mission of Work Zone Safe is for every new teen driver to know there is a face and family behind every flag, cone and flashing light. Over 110,000 teens have completed Oklahoma Work Zone Safe. States across the country are now adopting Work Zone Safe as a model for teen driver safety. More information at www.workzonesafe.com.

Learn more about the teen driver graduated driver license program through Service Oklahoma at https://oklahoma.gov/service/popular-services/teen-driving.html

View the press release: Oklahoma.gov