ODOT Puts The Brakes On Distracted Driving

By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Gina Harris knows all too well the consequences of distracted driving.

"It was nonstop crying, can't believe it, no this isn't happening. Not Britney," said Harris.

Her 19-year-old daughter Britney was killed in a car accident while talking on her cell phone in December 2006.

"Anger. Oh I was so mad especially when I found out it was a phone. It was just a phone. And looking for someone to blame," she said.

It's these accidents the Oklahoma Department of Transportation wants to stop.

"Someone that's not paying attention, they are doing this, doing this, or they are doing something else they are going to cause and crash and they can kill somebody," said Craig Murray, Tulsa Police Traffic Safety Coordinator.

As part of National Work Zone Awareness Week, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol says it will beef up manpower and have no tolerance for speeders.

"When we have a work zone set up, you have a lot of people that want to come through, knock out your cones just to be knocking them out, which scares the workers. I mean you just want to take off for a dead run," said Beneeta Lee, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority for the Creek.

"A simple cell phone in my daughter's hand is what ended her life," said Gina Harris.

Last year, 767 people were injured in Oklahoma work zones.  Seventeen people were killed.