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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 60th Legislature (2026)
SENATE BILL 1445 By: Wingard
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to motor vehicles; amending 47 O.S.
2021, Section 11-1302, which relates to flooded
highways or maintenance and construction zones;
modifying provisions of certain offense that results
in death; making language gender neutral; and
providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 47 O.S. 2021, Section 11-1302, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 11-1302. A. The Department of Transportation, Oklahoma
Turnpike Authority, and any county or city in this state are hereby
authorized to close any highway or section thereof, within their
respective jurisdiction, to traffic while the highway is flooded or
under repair, maintenance, or construction and, in exercising the
authority, shall erect or cause to be erected traffic-control
devices and barricades to warn and notify the public that the
highway has been closed to traffic.
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B. When any highway has been closed to traffic under the
provisions of subsection A of this section and traffic-control
devices or barricades have been erected, it shall be unlawful for
any person to drive any vehicle through, under, over, or around the
traffic-control devices or barricades, or otherwise to enter the
closed area. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to
persons while engaged in the construction, maintenance, and repair
of the highway or to persons entering therein for the protection of
lives or property; provided, that persons having their places of
residence or places of business within the closed area may travel,
when possible to do so, through the area at their own risk.
C. Whenever construction, repair, and maintenance of any
highway is being performed under traffic, the Oklahoma Turnpike
Authority, Department of Transportation, county, or city having
jurisdiction over the highway shall erect, or cause to be erected,
traffic-control devices to warn and guide the public. Each person
using the highway shall obey all signs, signals, markings, flagmen
flagpersons, or other traffic-control devices which are placed to
regulate, control, and guide traffic through the construction or
maintenance area. As used in this subsection, “construction or
maintenance area” means any area upon or around any highway that is
visibly marked as an area where construction, repair, and
maintenance is temporarily occurring. The construction or
maintenance area also includes the lanes of highway leading up to
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the area upon which an activity described in this section is being
performed, beginning at the point where properly posted traffic-
control devices start to warn and guide the public into and through
the construction or maintenance including, but not limited to,
instructions to merge from one lane into another lane, to reduce
speed, or to follow directions of flagmen flagpersons.
D. The “Merge Now” traffic-control device that is used to warn
and guide the public using the highway to merge shall be located in
advance of the highway construction or maintenance area in
accordance with the standards set forth in the most current edition
of the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic
Control Devices. Whenever any traffic-control device requires
traffic to merge due to the closure of a section or lane of highway,
the merge shall be completed:
1. As soon as practicable after passing the traffic-control
device; and
2. Without passing any other traffic proceeding in the same
direction.
E. No person shall remove, change, modify, deface, or alter any
traffic-control device or barricade which has been erected on any
highway under the provisions of this section.
F. Nothing in this section shall relieve the state or any of
its subdivisions or their contractors, agents, servants, or
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employees from liability for failure to perform any of the duties
imposed herein.
G. Except as provided in subsection H of this section, any
person who violates any provision of this section shall, upon
conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not
less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than One Thousand
Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail not to
exceed thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and
shall be liable for any damage to property, or injury to or death to
persons caused by the violations. In addition, the court may order
restitution in an amount equal to the actual costs of the emergency
response and repair or replacement of any damaged or lost emergency
equipment.
H. 1. When any section of a highway, turnpike, county road, or
city street has been closed to traffic due to flooding that is
ongoing and traffic-control devices or barricades have been erected
by law enforcement or other government officials with authority over
traffic control, it shall be unlawful for any person to tear down,
damage, or remove any traffic-control devices or barricades or drive
any vehicle through, under, over, or around the traffic-control
devices or barricades, or otherwise to enter the closed area. Any
person who violates the provisions of this subsection shall, upon
conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not
less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than One Thousand
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Dollars ($1,000.00). The person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00)
nor more than Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00) and
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one (1) year if
the operator of the motor vehicle was transporting a person eighteen
(18) years of age or younger at the time of the violation.
2. Any person who violates the provisions of paragraph 1 of
this subsection that results in the death of:
a. a person eighteen (18) years of age or younger shall,
upon conviction, be guilty of manslaughter in the
first degree, a Class A2 felony, punishable as
provided for in Section 715 of Title 21 of the
Oklahoma Statutes, or
b. a person older than eighteen (18) years of age shall,
upon conviction, be guilty of manslaughter in the
second degree, a Class B5 felony, punishable as
provided for in Section 722 of Title 21 of the
Oklahoma Statutes.
3. Persons convicted pursuant to the provisions of this
subsection shall be ordered to pay restitution in an amount equal to
the actual costs of the emergency response and repair or replacement
of any damaged or lost emergency equipment. In addition, the person
shall be liable for any damage to property or injury or death to
persons caused by the violation.
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SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2026.
60-2-2432 CN 1/8/2026 9:57:15 AM