The Metro's Most Dangerous Intersections

Erin Swezey had her whole life ahead of her. The 20-year-old OSU student dreamed of becoming an architect. A dream that ended April 4, 2009.

"I told her I loved her," said Keith Swezey about his daughter. "That was the last time we saw her."

Erin was driving from her boyfriend's in Mustang back home to Edmond when a drunk driver hit her head on. He was going almost 100 miles per hour, the wrong way, on the Kilpatrick Turnpike. His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

There are almost 5,000 drunk driving related crashes in Oklahoma every year. Close to 200 people are killed because someone chose to get behind the wheel after drinking. Could we reduce our risk of getting involved in an alcohol related wreck if we knew where they're most likely to happen? We poured through hundreds of pages of data to find out.

We wanted to see if drunk driving wrecks are more common on certain streets or parts of town, so we can lower our chance of dying or getting hurt. An Oklahoma county map labeling all 845 drunk driving accidents in Oklahoma County in 2012. More than 500 people were injured and 30 people killed because of a drunk driver. For the most part, the DUI wrecks are spread out all over town, but we found some metro streets appear to be more dangerous than others.

• At S.W. 29th and May, there were four DUI crashes within nine blocks, injuring five innocent bystanders.
• Just down the road at S.W. 51st and May, seven people were hurt because of a drunk driver.
• Four DUI crashes on Penn between Hefner and Britton in The Village injured four people.
• In Midwest City, 10 alcohol related wrecks on a three mile stretch of Douglas, north of I-40, including four at S.E. 29th and Douglas.

Oklahoma City Police Msgt. Gary Knight has a possible explanation.

"There are probably higher traffic areas. Certainly if there's higher traffic in the area, the odds are going to have a higher number of drunk drivers in that area. That's just common sense."

Common sense: Don't drink and drive.

"You're doing the same thing by getting in a car drunk as taking a loaded gun and pointing in a room and pulling the trigger," said Swezey. "So we need to get these people off the streets."

We've compiled a lot of data on crashes including a map of the DUI locations in Oklahoma County.

View the DUI Map here.

No DUI wrecks in 2012

• Route 66 between I-35 and Luther
• I-240 between Sooner and the I-40 junction near Choctaw

Erin Swezey Act: An interlock device is required for 18 months on a first conviction for those with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .15 or higher. For a second or subsequent offense, the interlock will be mandatory for those with a BAC of .08 for a period of four years, and for five years on subsequent offenses. Under the law, those convicted will have the designation "Interlock Required" on the face of their driver licenses as long as they're required to have an interlock device.

Read more on Erin Swezey's story.