Wrong-way incidents have simple solutions
The arrest last Monday night by state police of a Butler County man driving the wrong way on an exit ramp from Interstate 79 at the Racetrack Road intersection is just the latest in a series of similar incidents that often had tragic results.
Most of the drivers responsible for these mistakes were drunk or in some other way impaired, but not always. Fact is many of the interchanges for I-70 and I-79 are antiquated and poorly lighted, and it’s easy to understand how even a sober person unfamiliar with the roads in this area might miss the “wrong way” signs on side-by-side ramps in the dark of night and head into oncoming traffic.
Raymond L. Crocker Jr., 53, of Slippery Rock, fortunately stopped before he reached traffic traveling south on I-79 after driving all the way up the exit ramp. Several motorists called 911 dispatchers and a trooper traveling south on the highway noticed Crocker’s truck and stopped. Crocker was unable to produce anything from his wallet other than a credit card and refused to submit to a blood-alcohol test. He was placed in jail on $5,000 bond.
The danger at some of these interchanges is alarming. A driver intending to travel east on I-70 at the Beau Street interchange could end up going west by turning just a few feet too short. The I-79 interchange at Houston has no overhead lights, and at night the “wrong way” signs are barely visible – a situation that has proven to be fatal.
The sad thing is many of these wrong-way events could be avoided, even without major reconstruction of the interchanges. Better lighting certainly would help, and how the state Department of Transportation has allowed the Houston interchange to be kept in the dark so long is a mystery.
The signs are the same ones used when the interstate highways were built more than half a century ago. This is a day when many traffic lights have motion sensors, an innovation that improved traffic flow and conserved fuel. Motion sensors could easily detect vehicles traveling the wrong way on ramps and activate flashing warning signs. Has this never been considered?
Is the cost of better lighting and better signs too much? How would that cost compare to the value of lives saved?