Another Wrong-Way Driver Video

[Thomas Rogers]

This one is interesting to me because the guy in the green Jeep in front is a good friend of mine. This happened this AM, just a few miles from house.



He followed the elderly lady trying to get her to slow down, turn on her hazards and to pull over tight to the barrier, whatever he could do. He stuck with her until police arrived.



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[Bud Williams]

That is one scary video....Looks like a Buick....must be a senior citizen....crazy!

 

[Bill V]

Almost as scary as the wrong way driver is the idiot who is filming it while driving at high speed. If a passenger had the camera, that's one thing--but for this driver to turn the camera on to film a driver on the other side of the road was a recipe for two, not one, serious accidents...

:smack:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Bill V.



I agree. Don't know who filmed it. Just goes to show you that if something interesting happens in public these days, it's likely SOMEONE recorded it.



I also talked to my friend ahead in the Jeep and asked if he wasn't afraid that if the vehicle got smashed head-on by a semi that it wouldn't fly up and over the Jersey barrier and hit him. He said that thought had entered his mind, but he couldn't in good conscience NOT try to get the driver's attention and try to "wave her down."



He never did find out exactly what happened, how it started, or the state of the driver. Given that it was wet roads, high traffic, and the police showed up, he went on his way.



TJR

 

[Kevin Lang]

Gotta agree with Bill V. TJR, your friend in that Jeep was in peril unbeknownst to him. I'd be mightily annoyed to realize that a driver speeding along behind me on a rainy interstate at maybe 2 carlengths was filming while driving, and not watching where he was going.



Who even has a camera within reach while driving? It seems like everyone does, from the myriad of videos like this online. I guess smartphones change that? And the powers that be said that we'd all be better drivers if you had to use a hands-free device to CALL while driving. Laws omit filming... :banghead:



From the video I can't tell if the old woman is driving in the fast lane, or if she's on the shoulder of the fast lane. I'm assuming that she isn't on the shoulder due to the rumble strip, but she looks mighty close to that dividing wall.



This just brings to mind the classic joke with the old man calling his wife while driving the wrong way on the interstate. Less funny when we see it in action.



I wonder if she realized that she was in the wrong, and in her panic just kept driving as she couldn't come up with any idea to fix her situation, or if she was just so oblivious that she didn't realize what was going on in the slightest.

 

[gary s]

glad no one got hurt.



there have been a bunch of wrong way drivers on long island the last 6 months. unfortunately, there were deaths and injuries. :cry:

for a few months there were 2-3 per week. all DWI's :angry:

 

[Bud Williams]

Can you imagine all the wrong way drivers in Florida?!?:driving:



Maybe everyone drives on the other side of the road down there like England?:bwahaha:

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Some one was killed here yesterday because of this problem. There has been some talk about ways to help stop this. One measure was one way spikes on entrance ramps. The type that are used in parking garages. Just don't back up I guess.

 

[Les]

Can you imagine all the wrong way drivers in Florida?!?

Doesn't happen as often as you might think...

 

[Richard L]

About a year ago I was going down a divided highway near home about 10:00pm at night when I noticed oncomming traffic flashing their lights?? Then I noticed taillights going down the wrong side of the highway....Yes, some idiot or drunk was driving on the wrong side of a freeway and the oncomming traffic was flashing their lights to get his attention...but he just kept going??



I was getting off at the next exit so I did not pursue the issue. I did not hear of any collisions or reports of the police stopping someone on the news, so my assumption is that he made it to his destination without getting killed or killing anyone else.



I had always wondered about how these things could be prevented, or at least reduced. I thought that perhaps painting arrows and the words "Wrong Way" on the pavement that can only be read if you are going the wrong way. The other option might be "Stop" sighs along the road way facing the agains the normal flow of traffic, and "Stop" signs at the exit ramps where the idiots get on the highway going the wrong way. Most exits do not even have "Do Not Enter" signs.



I realize that some people would not even see these signs, but if the "Stop" signs or pavement painting of "arrow/wrong way" are repeated ever 1/4-1/2 mile they might just realize they screwed up before they kill someone.



...Rich

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Richard L,



Flashing wrong-way signs, solar powered, battery backed-up, with motion detection to activate, and placed the first few hundred yards, and repeated for a 1/4 mile after an off-ramp or intersection could do the trick.

 

[gary s]

"Flashing wrong-way signs, solar powered, battery backed-up, with motion detection to activate, and placed the first few hundred yards, and repeated for a 1/4 mile after an off-ramp or intersection could do the trick."



all great prevention. unfortunately most cases occur when alcohol / script meds were consumed by the driver and they are f' ed up. this will continue to happen and never go away. it needs to be minimized as much as possible. additional advanced signage can't hurt, but we need to

place more education on DWI/DUI as well.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

More on this for those not hooked into my local news...



This was a 68 year old woman, going to the doctors. She only lived a couple of miles from the doctors office and tries to only drive on local roads. She turned off a local road onto another local road that goes past the local hospital and medical offices. As she turned onto that road that was leading to her doctor's office, she passed by the north-bound off ramp of route 309. See thought that off ramp was the driveway into her doctor's office and took it.



This snap from Google Maps which I annotated shows the direction the lady was driving that morning (red arrows), the off-ramp which she got on (A), and what I suspect was her desired destination (B), a medical complex.



TJR[Broken External Image]:





It was raining that AM. Still, I don't know how you can go down a long off-ramp like that (literally, DOWN, as it is a pretty good incline) and drive into morning traffic that is oncoming in two lanes and NOT figure out your mistake.



Also, I love this quote from the news story, as spoken by the officer at the scene that talked to the lady:

Officer Fish said, I dont know how she did it. She didnt even seem frazzled at all. In fact, she was actually getting upset at me because I kept questioning her mental status. She said theres nothing wrong with her and she said she knew she was going the wrong way, she was just trying to find the exit.

The rest of the report is linked.



My friend in the green Jeep, along with the guy that videotaped have both been interviewed by several news affiliates and had their face on the tube lately. 15 minutes of fame...



TJR

 

[Richard L]

gary s,

I agree that when alcohol is involved that signs and flashing lights may not do a lot to prevent these things. However, I think doing nothing assures us that we will never prevent them.



I think signs and flashing warnings might catch the attention of a some drivers, perhaps a few who had a few too many drinks. I think the motion activated flashing signs might catch the attention of drunk drivers and probably most elderly drivers who just got confused.



I think most people are familiar with the shape an look of a "Stop" sign and so I would think a brightly lit flashing "Stop" sign would get most driver's attention and then the words "Wrong Way" underneath in bright yellow flashing lights would let most borderline drunks know they are going the wrong way.



It might be good to add a warning to the oncoming traffic that there is a problem ahead and have the traffic move to the right and stop...but that would add a lot of cost to the system.



Now there is nothing to warn the driver that they got on the highway going the wrong way and nothing to warn the oncoming drivers, especially during the day. At least at night you would see headlights coming at you...:driving:



...Rich

 

[Steve McKellop]

I came upon this one back in '07. I heard CB and scanner chatter about a car getting on I40/85 Exit 141 (Burlington, NC) going west in the eastbound lane and I was only a mile from that exit going westbound. In the minute it took me to get there the elderly lady had smacked the 18-wheeler at a glancing blow, he hit the retaining wall and the fuel tanks ruptured causing this blazing fire.

Her Buick or Olds is in the far left of the photo. The truck driver and the lady escaped with only minor injuries. Quite a few lucky people in this photo!

The truck pretty much burned to the ground.

:grin:



About as interesting were the Hooters girls that came out to see what was happening !!

:grin::grin:



if there's a moral to this story it would be to watch out for blue-haired ladies in Buicks !:haveabeer:

.................and check out ANY wreck near a Hooters!:banana:

 

[Gil G]

Signs and flashing lights wont do the trick not even every 1/4 mile ....too late then.

Gary D called it right, You need to Stop them Before they get on the freeway

One way tire spikes like in the parking garage will do it....several strips if needed

 

[Kevin Lang]

One way tire spikes like in the parking garage will do it....several strips if needed

Yeah, that's not a path I want to go down. Pun aside, encouraging the act of placing tire destroying mechanisms in the road can yield no good.



To be punctilious, parking garage spike strips are designed to be taken at low speeds by "light" vehicles, not an 18-wheeler barreling down on them at 40 mph or so. Also, I haven't seen a parking garage employ such medieval & liability-inducing mechanisms in eons. Thankfully.



If a person is going to go up an egress ramp, I could see them easily continuing to drive on the freeway with flat tires, making this even worse. Going the wrong way with impaired mobility.



Worse, they could leave their car on the exit ramp. Not something I want to see on a narrow road at freeway speeds.

. She didnt even seem frazzled at all. In fact, she was actually getting upset at me because I kept questioning her mental status.

The only way to stop this from happening is to prevent senile people such as this woman from driving. If the MVA testing wasn't a joke--and didn't let you renew by mail in many places--perhaps this wouldn't happen.

 

[Richard L]

Gil G,

Signs and flashing lights wont do the trick not even every 1/4 mile ....too late then.

Gary D called it right, You need to Stop them Before they get on the freeway

One way tire spikes like in the parking garage will do it....several strips if needed

I agree that the flashing lights and signs need to be at the Exit ramps where the idiots get on the highway is where you hope it will work the best and prevent someone from getting ont the freeway going the wrong way.



More signs and flashing lights every 1/4 mile or so would not be too late if it gets the attention of the idiot driver and gets him to stop before he hits someone. I'm sure you have seen the TV footage of idiot driving down the wrong side of a freeway for many miles before they either collide or get stopped by the police.



I don't think the one-way spike strips would be too bad either. Police use spike strips to stop high-speed pursues so I think wrong-ay spike strips only on the Exit ramp at a lower speed might be safer.



Of course nothing about driving is fool proof, so there will always be a driver who does not notice the flashing lights or realize he has 4 flat tires and keeps going. But I think these measure would stop the majority of these idiots/drunks.



...Rich