wrong way drivers

[cptn janks]

wtf. there have been 4 accidents in the past 3 months with someone going the wrong way on the freeway.

 

this is the article from the dispatch.

 

Driving toward death

Eight have been killed recently in spate of wrong-way crashes

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Tim Doulin

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

 

The close encounter with the elderly woman who drove the wrong way on I-270 late Sunday morning lasted only a matter of seconds.

 

But it was horrifying just the same, a witness said.

 

Minutes later, wrong-way driver Bernice Hoynoski smashed into another vehicle, killing herself and another.

 

"I kind of screamed, to be truthful," said John Worrall, a passenger in a car passed by Hoynoski.

 

There really wasn’t much time to do anything else.

 

Worrall, 40, of Columbus, said his girlfriend was driving south on I-71 when they spotted headlights coming at them.

 

"There was a car in front of us ... and then all of sudden here comes this green car and it is in the lane to our right," Worrall said.

 

Worrall called 911 and turned to watch the car drive the wrong way up a ramp to I-270, heading east into westbound traffic.

 

Not long after that, Hoynoski’s 1999 Oldsmobile Alero smashed into a black 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe. Hoynoski, 81, of Worthington, was killed in the crash as was a passenger in the other vehicle, Leta J. Stewart, 38.

 

Hoynoski was a "good driver" who had remained an avid motorist, even nine years after she retired from her desk job at St. Ann’s Hospital, her longtime neighbor Helen Brown said last night.

 

"She drove all the time. I just can’t fathom her doing that," Brown, 89, said of Hoynoski going the wrong direction. "She was a good friend. We used to go to lunch together."

 

Hoynoski didn’t drink and always seemed healthy, Brown said. She didn’t know if her neighbor had been taking any medication.

 

Ohio records show that Hoynoski had no previous accidents.

 

Sunday’s crash was the fourth wrong-way crash in the area in three months, claiming eight people.

 

"It has got us concerned," said Lt. Jeff Blackwell of the Columbus police traffic bureau.

 

"We have received other calls over the last several months of vehicles going the wrong way that did not result in fatal accidents."

 

Police suspect alcohol played a role in the three earlier wrongway crashes.

 

That is consistent with the findings of a 2004 study by the Texas Transportation Institute, which examined 323 wrong-way crashes on Texas freeways over a four-year period.

 

"We definitely found a correlation," said Scott Cooner, a researcher and co-author of the study. "Alcohol involvement is high in these incidents, much higher than in other types of crashes."

 

Though wrong-way crashes account for about 1 percent of crashes in Texas, about 50 percent of those result in a fatality or serious injury, Cooner said.

 

According to the study, the typical wrong-way driver is a male between 18 and 35 years old. And most incidents occurred between 2 and 3 a.m.

 

"That is about when the bars close," Cooner said.

 

Older drivers also were "overly represented compared to their proportion of the driving population. But it probably was not as significant as we thought it would be," Cooner said.

 

The study recommended lowering "wrong way" and "do not enter" signs posted at freeway ramps to about 2 feet off the pavement to catch the attention of drunken drivers. In many states, they are mounted 7 feet off the ground. "There has been a lot of research that shows impaired drivers are taking their cues from down low," Cooner said.

 

Motorists who find themselves face to face with a wrongway driver should flash their headlights, honk their horn, try to get the license plate number and call the highway patrol, said Donald Brinkman, a 13-year instructor at Columbus Driving Academy.

 

"Try to communicate to them that they’re going the wrong way," Brinkman said.

 

Blackwell said the traffic bureau is forming a committee to study wrong-way crashes and will look at things including police response and freeway signs.

 

"We don’t have any indication that any ramp in the city of Columbus is not marked properly," Blackwell said. "But certainly we will look into the feasibility of more signs."

 

Dispatch reporters Madelin Esquivel and Matthew Marx contributed to this story.

 

 

tdoulin@dispatch.com

 

ok, now i dont know... but it seems to me that i would notice a car coming the wrong way on the freeway. i try to keep my eyes up and not focus on just the car in front of me like many people do. maybe it just happens too fast... i dunno, but i think id notice headlights coming the wrong way instantly, and i would then get the heck out of the way...

 

still sucks though. i could see how someone maybe could go down the wrong exit ramp at some places, but i think id pull over and turn around when i saw that every other car was coming head on. maybe they are thinking "damn why are ALL THESE CARS going the wrong way???"

[copperhead]

The close encounter with the elderly woman who drove the wrong way on I-270

I think that sums it up right there.

[Sully]

The study recommended lowering "wrong way" and "do not enter" signs posted at freeway ramps to about 2 feet off the pavement to catch the attention of drunken drivers. In many states, they are mounted 7 feet off the ground. "There has been a lot of research that shows impaired drivers are taking their cues from down low," Cooner said.[/QB]

Ummm, how about instead of spending a ton of money putting the signs lower, putting more cops on the street to get the damn drunks off the freakin road. Sure, putting the signs lower might help, but wouldn't that be like telling the community it's ok to drive drunk as long as you look at the signs that are low to the ground????

 

Plus, depending on how drunk you are, they could plaster the damn sign on your windshield and you still wouldn't see it. Geeeeez!!!!

[RadDawg]

Mercedes has a study in Europe that concluded that almost 60% of wrong-way accidents in the E.U. were suicides. Chicken-shit way to do it, taking out someone else with you, but probably effective if you didn't wear your seat belt and did't have any airbags.

[old dirty bastard]

to the parking lot

[Guest Atlas]

Actually I knew the lady that caused that wreck. She still worked the desk at St Ann's where I work on one of the floors. I don't know why it said she retired 8 years ago, because she was still working there when this happened. They seem to have all of their facts wrong on this part of the article. I can also tell you that she WAS having mental problems and usually got confused. Visitors and patients were always upset because she always insisted that the patient was not in the hospital when she couldn't find their names in the computer, even though they were right in front of her on the screen. Several people had voiced concerns about her staying in a position there when it was obvious that she couldn't do the job any longer. Needless to say I was not surprised to find out that this happened. I think there should be a test to renew your liscence once you reach a certain age to keep this kind of thing from happening, I know some people say its discrimination but the truth is at a certain age people begin to lose their reflexes and some should not be on the road any longer.

[Veritas]

amen. I'm all for mandatory re-testing at a certain age. Just like with anything else, you start to lose things past a certain point.

[Kohones]

Agree with re-testing. Some folks are sharp all the waaay to 85 yrs old & some shouldn't be driving at age 68!

[Guest GSRchick714]

I also agree with re-testing. Sometimes the old people are against it saying that they don't need to do that but if they can drive then the re-test should be no problem for them! They should get re-tested at a certain age then once again every year after that IMO.

[excell]

While I agree on re-testing, no politician in their right mind would introduce legislature to begin something like that. It would be political suicide.

 

The fact is that the elderly vote is a must-win for almost anyone who wants to take a major political seat. They vote in numbers vastly superior to the younger generations. Until we start taking voting seriously, measures like this one will never be more than a dream.