OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is seeing a troubling trend in more drivers speeding on Sooner State highways.

Troopers say they are catching speeders going over 100 miles per hour daily, and they believe it is because more people are moving into the state.

“It’s happening and those tickets are being written. And, you know, if you’re going triple digits on an Oklahoma roadway, you will be fined. You will be stopped,” said Eric Foster, Oklahoma Highway Patrol. 

According to a recent study, Oklahoma saw some of the largest growth in the nation over the past year, ranking #10 for net gain, according to a HireAHelper’s annual US migration report.  

But with more growth, brings on more traffic and ultimately more speeders. 

“The traffic and the population are booming in Oklahoma. And that really speaks of good things. People want to move here. They’re coming to Oklahoma and our cities are growing very quickly. Obviously, with more traffic or more population, we’re starting to see higher speeds. Our tickets for high-speed tickets are going up in number,” said Foster. 

Foster said they’re now starting to see more violent crashes as a result of the increasingly high speeds.

“If one thing goes wrong at those speeds, you know you’re going to be involved in a collision and probably a very, very serious collision,” said Foster. 

Bonnie Nubine travels the highways daily and said she’s noticed several speeders lately and sometimes doesn’t feel safe.

“It is like people trying to run you over, run you off the road… And it’s scary,” said Bonnie Nubine, Oklahoma City resident. “Everybody’s trying to get [kids] to school… Everybody’s trying to get to work, trying to beat the morning rush.”

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has recently been giving out a lot of tickets and even clocking speeds of up to 117 miles per hour. 

A radar taken Sunday morning by an Oklahoma police officer clocked someone at 121 miles per hour, 51 miles per hour over the speed limit on I-40 near the Kickapoo Turnpike.  

“The fines in Oklahoma are serious… Just going one mile an hour over that posted speed limit can cost you $100, but it can go all the way up to $650, depending on your speed, depending on where you’re at, if you’re in a construction zone. And then it can get worse if you were involved in speed or even an excessive speed that injures someone in a crash or kill someone. Now you’re facing criminal charges when you know at first you were just driving, maybe reckless or not, regarding other people,” said Foster.  

Nubine worries Troopers won’t be able to catch them all.  

“Good luck trying. There’s a lot of them. I don’t know how they’ll catch them all,” said Nubine.  

To keep up with the demand, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said they have several Troopers daily who are specifically assigned to look for speeding on our turnpikes. 

They also said the ticketing necessary as they continue to see cars traveling over 100 miles per hour.