Wrong-way crashes often deadly, hard to prevent
The 22 crashes that occurred from wrong-way driving here over the past two years make up a small fraction of total accidents. But wrong-way crashes on
"It doesn't happen that often, but when it does it's usually serious, if not fatal," Lt.
Four people have died in this type of violent crash in
There have been two deadly wrong-way collisions within a 40-mile stretch of
One in
Several major highways intersecting the county --
Extensive construction projects on
"For the longest time it was nothing but barrels," he said. "If you don't travel that every day it can be confusing."
But solutions are hard to come by, safety and law enforcement experts said.
"Stopping it before a tragedy occurs, that's a tall order," said
100 times more deadly
Numerous agencies tracking wrong-way crashes in
Since then,
Multiple studies by the
About 2.4 percent of the wrong-way crashes in
But the fatality rate is much higher when looking at just crashes on divided highways, removing wrong-way crashes that happen on one-way city streets where speeds are lower.
A 2013 Ohio state patrol study examined 60 wrong-way crashes on highways from
The reason is often simple physics.
"Consider that two vehicles moving toward one another at 65 mph have a combined speed of 130 mph, resulting in a very high force of impact should they meet head-on," the 2013 study by the state patrol said.
Numerous local crashes
--
-- In
-- Francois Hagenimana, a 24-year-old native of
-- In October, motorcyclist
--
-- On
What can be done?
Studies on wrong-way crashes recommend increased efforts to curb drunken driving as key to stopping these deadly collisions, along with increased education for elderly drivers and caretakers.
Some recent tragedies have involved drivers who investigators suspect simply became confused and ended up in the wrong lanes.
On
Lein's brother told the Toledo Blade his sister must have gotten confused when she entered the highway the wrong direction.
"When you get to this age -- and I'm a little older than she was -- you have to be very careful when you're driving anymore,"
Recommendations have also been made about additional traffic-control devices that can minimize wrong-way driving, especially on highway entrance and exit ramps.
The
"The problem is there are about 5,000 ramps around the state, and there is no trend that is showing up. It's so random. There's just not a smoking gun, like this intersection is always a problem so let's fix it," he said.
In 2006 the state noticed a rash of wrong-way drivers on highways in downtown
A slight drop in the number of incidents has occurred there, Bruning said, but because reporting standards have also changed, it's hard to say if the new signs have had a significant impact.
"All the things we could do, adding more signs, flashing lights, put LEDs in the ramp or something ... If they're not noticing an 18-wheeler coming at them at 70 mph on the interstate, are they going to notice an extra wrong way sign?" he said. "But if that extra wrong way sign stops one person from going the wrong way down the ramp, then it was worth every dime we spent to do it."
Pilot program
But the test has been delayed as the technology isn't yet as accurate as the company wants it.
The current sensors, which are placed on light poles about every mile along
"We're not confident that we can do it with a high degree of accuracy," he said.
And one missed car could lead to a fatality, Finlay said, and false alarms could deter law enforcement from trusting the sensors.
Other solutions that have been discussed among highway safety experts include placing sensors at exit ramps, which would provide early detection, Finlay said, but be very costly to install.
Other states have implemented ramp design changes that make it difficult for drivers to get on a ramp the wrong way.
"But that requires essentially rebuilding interchanges, and that's not cheap either. The other thing that people have talked about is putting those strips that essentially flatten your tires if you're going the wrong way," Finlay said.
That could present safety hazards by causing a driver to lose control, and presents other obstacles as emergency and construction crews frequently go the wrong way on ramps to reach crash scenes or work zones.
Sensors could be helpful, state trooper Aller said. But the public already does a great job of reporting wrong-way drivers.
"We generally know within seconds (where) a wrong-way driver is with the magic of cell phones," Aller said.
Intercepting them is the hard part, he said.
"We try to use methods ... like slowing traffic down or stopping it completely if the wrong-way driver is heading that way," he said. "In extreme circumstances we are allowed to use intentional contact to stop the wrong-way driver, but as a last resort."
Drivers encountering someone going the wrong way should slow down and move over, Aller said, then call 9-1-1 if it's safe to do so.
Bruning had a personal encounter years ago with a wrong-way driver on
"You don't know what to do ... It's almost like your brain takes a minute to process," he said.
Ultimately the focus has to be on keeping impaired or disorientated drivers off the road, said
"If we could make more progress on reducing alcohol-impaired driving, it would help reduce the incidence of wrong-way crashes," Rader said.
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