A new comprehensive national traffic safety study from Go Safe Labs shows that Oklahoma City was one of the top ten cities in the nation for traffic accidents in 2019, coming in seventh on the non-profit group’s list of America’s least safe cities to drive.
According to Go Safe Labs’ exhaustive study, there were 12,476 crashes last year in Oklahoma City – a 6.1% year-over-year increase. The group’s data science team based their findings on a national review of over 1.8 million accident reports from 2018 and 2019.
“In 2020 we wanted to start the new year by reviewing what we learned from the past year. We thought with a little more traffic safety data we can hopefully know a little more about the safest places to drive,” said Kevin Pomplun, Chairman of Go Safe Labs. “We were surprised by all the enthusiasm for our last report. It was great and humbling. And now we hope these new findings on 2019, make some small impact on 2020 being the best year yet for all of us driving on US roads.”
Nationally, traffic accidents across the United States increased 6.8% in 2019 – with nearly 1 million crashes on America’s roadways. There were 953,630 accidents in 2019, up from 892,615 in 2018.
Using publicly available data from local, state and federal sources, Go Safe Labs identified the top ten cities with the most accidents in 2019: Rank, City, 1. Houston 2. Charlotte 3. Los Angeles 4. Austin 5. Dallas 6. Raleigh 7. Oklahoma City 8. Baton Rouge 9. Nashville 10. Phoenix.

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Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready has named Brian Downs to serve as Chief of Staff for the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID). A native Oklahoman, Downs currently serves as the State Health Information Exchange Director and Special Assistant to the Governor’s Front Porch Initiative.
“Brian’s leadership experience, professionalism and his tireless commitment to Oklahoma citizens make him a perfect fit for this position,” Mulready said. “He has built a level of trust and respect with state and national leaders on both sides of the aisle. I am confident that his leadership will maintain the positive momentum as we continue to move forward with our team’s vision of becoming a Top 10 insurance department.”
Downs previously served as Chief of Staff for Speaker Jeff Hickman in the Oklahoma House Representatives and Chief of Staff and Director of State and Federal Policy at the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
“Commissioner Mulready continually challenges the Department staff to strive for their best as they serve the public. He’s not afraid of changes and he’s dedicated to making OID a Top 10 insurance department. Following his example, I will champion Commissioner Mulready’s vision and do my best to serve Oklahomans in this role,” Downs said.
Downs will begin his new role on January 30th, 2020.
If you have questions about other insurance issues, contact the Oklahoma Insurance Department at 1-800-522-0071 or visit our website at www.oid.ok.gov.

Oklahoma native Travis Kirkpatrick is the new director of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. Kirkpatrick has served as interim director for the last 90 days. Health Commissioner Gary Cox said he made the decision based on Kirkpatrick’s leadership at the authority over the last few months.
“We are excited about the leadership of Travis and his focus on being an efficient and effective organization that serves the citizens of the state,” said Cox. “During his three months, Kirkpatrick has reopened the call center, which is now handling approximately 300 calls a day, hired a compliance manager to ensure the dispensaries across the state are in compliance with state laws, and worked to open the lines of communication with the business community and the patients.”
Kirkpatrick praised the staff for its passion and dedication saying “that is something that drives me every day as I seek to innovate and lead us toward the goals we have been provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Health leadership and the Governor. My goal is to continue to work with the patients, dispensary owners and growers as this authority meets the guidelines set out by the voters and by the Legislature.”
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority was created by a vote of the people, July 26, 2018. The state question allowed for both licenses to sell and to purchase medical marijuana with a physician’s prescription. Additional regulatory authority was written into the “unity bill” passed by the legislature just months before Kirkpatrick’s arrival. There are currently more than 246,000 patient, caregiver, grower, processor, dispensary, and transportation licenses for marijuana in Oklahoma, all handled by OMMA.
Travis Kirkpatrick is a Public Administration professional with more than 15 years of service to the State of Oklahoma. He brings a multitude of experience in bureaucratic process gained via his roles in several state agencies. A native Oklahoman, Kirkpatrick holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Oklahoma. In his spare time, he volunteers on several community non-profit boards and enjoys watching his children play soccer.

Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready today donated a Remington 870 Shotgun to the Coweta Police Department Chief Mike Bell at the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID)’s Oklahoma City office.
“It is much appreciated more than you know,” Bell said. “As a small agency, we can’t afford equipment like this. It will greatly enhance our services.”
The Oklahoma Insurance Department’s Anti-Fraud Division collected the shotguns they don’t use anymore and donated them to underfunded law enforcement agencies. Anti-Fraud Chief Investigator Rick Wagnon contacted the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police and the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Association for a list of underfunded agencies that each association could recommend. From that list, Commissioner Mulready drew the winners randomly and contacted each agency to schedule the shotgun handoff.
Wagnon said they carefully selected small, underfunded agencies that could get the most benefit from this donation. He also said the most of these agencies do not have shotguns and are excited to receive them.
“The goal of the firearm donation is to enable underfunded law enforcement agencies to acquire firearms at no cost in support of their mission,” Mulready said. “We are grateful for our law enforcement agencies and their service to our citizens.”
Mulready said that the department will donate a total of 7 shotguns to the following agencies. Sheriff Larry Lane, Sequoyah County SO, Chief Bob Ernst, Perkins PD, Sheriff Marty Grisham, Love County SO, Chief Mike Bell, Coweta PD, Chief John O’mara, Kiefer PD, Sheriff Joe Janz, Kiowa County SO, Sheriff Tim Turner, Haskell County SO.

The Social Security Administration launched a new Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign to continue warning people about the ongoing nationwide telephone impersonation scheme. The PSAs feature a message from Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul. Social Security and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) continue to receive reports about fraudulent phone calls from people falsely claiming to be Social Security employees. The scammers mislead victims into making cash or gift card payments for help with purported identity theft, or to avoid arrest for bogus Social Security number problems.
“I want every American to know that if a suspicious caller states there is a problem with their Social Security number or account, they should hang up and never give the caller money or personal information. People should then go online to oig.ssa.gov to report the scam call to Social Security,” said Commissioner Saul.
People should also be on the lookout for a new version of this scam. Fraudsters are now emailing fake documents in attempts to get people to comply with their demands. Victims have received emails with attached letters and reports that appear to be from Social Security or the OIG. The letters may use official letterhead and government jargon to convince victims they are legitimate; they may also contain misspellings and grammar mistakes.