Wrong-way crashes on the rise
The 33 wrong-way crashes reported in
Most recently, a fiery
The only similar fatal crash reported in
Data shows wrong-way crashes in
Since then,
Multiple studies by the
Safety experts and law enforcement also agree that solutions are hard to come by.
"Stopping it before a tragedy occurs, that's a tall order," said
Some efforts have also focused on road designs to prevent entering highways the wrong way or to alert drivers to their mistake.
But ultimately the focus has to be on keeping impaired or disorientated drivers off the road, experts say.
"If we could make more progress on reducing alcohol-impaired driving, it would help reduce the incidence of wrong-way crashes," said
100 times more deadly
Of the roughly 900 wrong-way crashes in
Wrong-way crashes on highways are more likely to involve a death, compared to those same crashes that happen on one-way city streets, where speeds are lower.
A 2013 state patrol study examined 60 wrong-way crashes on highways from
The reason? 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 patrol said.
What can be done?
Studies on wrong-way crashes recommended increased efforts to curb drunk driving as key to stopping these deadly collisions, along with increased education for elderly drivers and caretakers.
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
Drivers sometimes get confused on those roads and will frequently correct their mistake before an officer catches them.
Signs mark the roads on
"We've had some major accidents with wrong-way drivers on
But, too commonly the sometimes-deadly error is the result of a drunk driver -- a problem that flashy signs can't always prevent, Bost said.
That's what likely caused the most devastating wrong-way crash some area officers could recall in recent years. Just two days before Christmas in 2012, 40-year-old
"The majority of wrong-way drivers are impaired, that's just from my experience," Bost said.
___
(c)2015 the Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio)
Visit the Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio) at www.journal-news.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News