After a fiery head-on collision last week that killed six, people are wondering which direction to look to prevent wrong-way vehicle accidents.
The topic of righting wrong-way drivers is drawing increased public discussion, but without much resolution.
Such is the case near Woodland, where a collision claiming six lives had many people on social media seeking answers.
“Carmakers can fix this and/or CalTrans,” wrote one person. “Obviously people aren’t getting the message of going the wrong way, especially at night. Flashing lights around the ‘Do Not Enter Wrong Way’ sign? A little camera on our dash that snaps a picture of the sign and then disables the vehicle? Something needs to be done.”
Thankfully, some things are being done on troublesome entrance-exit ramps.
In fact, UC Davis, funded in part by CalTrans, is performing research on how to detect, deter or detain wrong-way drivers.
“This study looks beyond the location of the wrong-way,” said Bahram Ravani, a UCD engineering professor heading the project. “It looks at driver behavior.”
Ravani explained that this study monitors several key road confluences in Sacramento, West Sacramento and a couple in traffic-heavy San Diego. The objective: figure out why the occasional driver goes — or almost goes — the wrong direction.
“What could be the confusing factor?” Ravani said. “What factors could be affecting the visibility? Is it anything in the design of the intersection or traffic control?”
These confluences are recorded a ways up the road to determine the driver’s course long before making an unusual turn. By looking at hesitancies or abnormalities in the vehicle’s movement, they can hope to see the error from the driver’s seat.
But mapping out the data is slow work, Ravani said.
“The number of wrong-way (turns) is not that high, so it takes a long time to collect the data,” he said. “But then one happens.”
Some of the accidents, Ravani explained, occur after too many drinks. But even buzzed drivers can correct their trajectory if they can figure out the infrastructure.
“Is there anything in the design to make sure that no one could make this mistake?” he asked.
Some design features have already been implemented on tricky sections, according to Dennis Keaton of CalTrans.
“A lot of signs are made bigger,” Keaton said, referring to the expansion of many signs from 36 inches to 72 inches. “And they’re moved farther up at the beginning of the ramp or closer to surface streets.”
Locally, a “flash-and-photo” sign stands in West Sacramento at the connections of 5th Street and Highway 50. When a vehicle travels the wrong direction, the sign flashes and the rear of the car is photographed and sent to local law enforcement. Six other signs can be found at major on-off ramps in Sacramento, according to Keaton.
Hopefully, the change will reduce the estimated 300- to 400 annual deaths caused by head-on collisions, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Large or flashy signs cannot be found near the rural stretch of I-5 where the Jan. 7 accident occurred. In fact, many of the ramps near County Road 17 appear identical. It’s possible that the wrong-way driver unintentionally entered the wrong side of the highway, as it was dark and there was little traffic.
It’s also possible the wrong-way driver was intoxicated. But that information won’t be known until an analysis is completed in several weeks.
Meanwhile, a seventh person from that incident is still unaccounted for.
Karen Elizabeth Garcia Romero, a sister to one of the victims and a friend to the four others traveling in the same car returning home to Williams, still has not returned home.
According to Sgt. Steve Woldanski of the Williams Police Department, Karen was last seen in person on Monday, the day after the fatal crash.
Stopping in their tracks
Measures like signs and tech do well to prevent confused drivers from taking the wrong turnpike, but Keaton said signs may not deter everyone.
“In the majority of these collisions, the driver is impaired,” Keaton said. “Whether it’s alcohol or some other kind of drug.”
That drives a point: why not stop the cars?
First thoughts move to the “wrong way” spike strips that engage only on vehicles traveling against the grain of traffic. These often apply to the parking lots of secured buildings and car rental companies. Traveling “backwards” over the “speed bump” causes the tires to puncture and sometimes hang up on the spikes. Others have looked into sensors that would detect wrong-way traffic on entrance and exit ramps and raise barriers to physically stop or at least maim vehicles before they enter the flow of fast traffic.
But most of those ideas have been debunked as costly and dangerous to right-way traffic.
A study performed by the Texas Department of Transportation laid out the issues with spike strips, noting that they had been considered in the 1960s.
“These studies have shown that the installation of spike strips (or any other device placed in the travel lanes designed to damage a vehicle) presents a significant danger to the traveling public, including vehicles traveling in the correct direction on exit ramps,” the study reads.
It goes on to state that a strip would hinder any traffic moving faster than five miles per hour. The structure could actually harm low-riding vehicles and motorcyclists. The system would need to be quality enough — and expensive enough — to withstand constant traffic, poor weather, road debris, dirt and perhaps the occasional wrong-way driver.
Keaton, who is familiar with the studies, said the strip wouldn’t even guarantee a halt.
“Vehicles can still continue traveling, even with the tires gone,” he said.
The real prevention, he said, occurs long before drivers even flick on a turn signal.
“Hats off to the CHP,” he said, adding that most collisions are prevented by troopers and police officers who notice unusual driving or a change in the flow of traffic.
Ravani said that based on UCD findings, the study would consider methods of physically stopping vehicles where infrastructure can’t.
Contact Hans Peter at 530-406-6238.
