They look like the side of a boxing ring and, on a bad day, they see just as much action. But driving Tulsa-area highways is becoming safer and less expensive thanks to new cable barriers installed by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

Since last year, ODOT has installed 43 miles of the new barriers, saving both lives and money. The new barriers cost about 10 percent the cost of concrete barriers.

"You know they're still gonna sustain damage, still gonna sustain injuries, but not like it would with a steel barrier or a concrete barrier," said Officer Craig Murray, of the Tulsa Police Department."I think the thing is, in a couple of states it looked like there was definitely a decrease in the number of fatalities."

Just how safe are they? A study in Washington state analyzed over 11,000 accidents and found that of the people who ran into concrete and steel barriers, 41 percent died while the the fatality rate for cable barriers was 16 percent.