The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has launched a pilot project to better prevent wrong-way crashes.
Several roads in Sacramento and San Diego have been designated for the two-year test program. Caltrans uploaded a video to YouTube explaining their high-tech wrong-way driver detection system, which will alert traffic management and take a photo of the vehicle when a driver approaches an intersection.
Flashing red lights will be added to wrong-way signs to alert drivers when they approach the wrong on-ramp and additional red reflectors will be placed on the road to deter drivers from driving the wrong way. A video system will be used to study wrong-way driving incidents at these intersections.
Less than 1% of crashes in California each year are a result of wrong-way driving. Most of those incidents involved impaired drivers.
The data from the University of California Davis study will be used to help Caltrans better understand why wrong-way crashes occur and be used to help prevent them.
The Sacramento program will cost about $650,000.
