Easily one of the worst – and too often deadly – types of car crashes is one caused by a wrong-way driver. Here in the Las Vegas valley, wrong-way crashes have been a serious problem for the past five years. State officials are concerned with the number of wrong-way crashes across Nevada.
As one public safety officer said, “It’s a nightly occurrence that someone gets on the freeway going the wrong way.” He noted, “We ended last year with 382 lives lost on Nevada’s roadways, a 14-year high, and we didn’t start the new year in the right direction. It took only two hours and 15 minutes to have our first fatality.” Just recently, four people died after a wrong-way crash on Interstate 15.
Most wrong-way crashes involve driver impairment
We have a large number of tourists in this area who aren’t familiar with the exits and the streets. However, the vast majority of wrong-way crash fatalities are caused by impaired drivers.
Besides getting drunk and drugged drivers off the streets, which is no easy task in a city where free drinks are easy to come by if you just keep playing the slots or other casino games, what else can be done?
Nevada is planning a notification system at off-ramps
The public information officer for the state’s Department of Transportation says the DOT is testing a notification system to be used on off-ramps throughout the state. He explains, “Wrong way drivers were alerted and turned around 89% of the time before they got on the freeway.”
Construction is still some ways off, however. In the meantime, all that anyone can do is watch for impaired and/or distracted drivers and call 911 if you see someone driving recklessly or negligently. If you or a loved one is injured in a crash caused by another driver, don’t settle for less than the compensation you need for medical bills, lost wages and other expenses and damages.
