Oklahoma Highway Safety Office

The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma responsible for promoting highway safety. The OHSO is responsible for developing an annual statewide Highway Safety Plan to decrease fatalities and injuries on Oklahoma roadways. The OHSO is a division of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety.

The OHSO is supervised by the Oklahoma Secretary of Safety and Security, who is the Governor's Representative for Highway Safety, and under the direct administrative control of the Director of Highway Safety, who is a career civil servant of the State government. The current Highway Safety Representative is Rusty Rhoades and the current Highway Safety Director is Paul Harris.

The Highway Safety Office was created in 1967 during the term of Governor Dewey F. Bartlett.

Leadership

The Highway Safety Office located within the Highway Patrol Division of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. As such, the Office is under the supervision of the Secretary of Safety and Security, the Commissioner of Public Safety, and the Chief of the Highway Patrol.

Though the Director of the OHSO is not a commissioned member of the Patrol, the Director is treated as a Captain of the Patrol, both in responsibilities and in pay grade.

Overview

The OHSO is funded through grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most programs and activities of the OHSO fall into the areas of traffic safety education, training, and enforcement enhancement.

Divisions

• Governor's Representative for Highway Safety
  • Director of Highway Safety
    • Chief of Programs
    • Chief of Plans
    • Chief of Finances
      • Program Management Division
      • Communications/Marketing
      • Data Management Division
      • Financial Management Division

See also

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

External links

• Oklahoma Highway Safety Office official website