By Cecilia Chan

Independent Newsmedia

Arizona Department of Public Safety received the 911 call early Sunday morning this February, a driver was heading the wrong way on U.S. 60 near R.H. Johnson Boulevard in Sun City West.

A resulting head-on collision injured the drivers of both vehicles, which later turned fatal for one of the motorists.

It was just one of 12 fatal wrong-way crashes so far this year in Arizona, according to DPS data. The total fatal wrong-way crashes for 2016 was 12.

Wrong-way crashes are on the rise in Arizona. As of Aug. 21, DPS reported 44 wrong-way crashes, compared with 41 for the same time span the year before.

Arizona’s wrong-way crash data compiled from 2004 through 2014 showed 245 wrong-way crashes occurred with 91 fatalities over the 10-year period. The latest fatal crash occurred Aug. 21 on Interstate 10 near Tucson.

“We are definitely up with the number of wrong-way driving incidents,” said Alberto Gutier, Governor’s Office of Highway Safety director.

Mr. Gutier also anticipated a 5 percent to 10 percent increase this year in callers reporting wrong-way drivers.

In 2016, there were a total of 1,729 calls, he said. From January to July last year, there were 1,027 calls compared with 1,100 for the same time period this year, he added.

July of this year saw the highest number of wrong-way crashes on state freeways — 10, five of them fatal, according to DPS.

“The governor ordered us, not requested, but ordered ADOT, DPS and myself to do something about wrong-way driving,” Mr. Gutier said. “He made it very clear to us.”

ARIZONA ADDRESSES PROBLEM

In August, Arizona Department of Transportation began installing a first-in-the-nation, pilot wrong-way vehicle detection and warning system at the Interstate 17 interchange at Indian School Road in Phoenix.

An in-house department study showed over an 11-year period, the metro Phoenix portion of I-17 (more than 35 miles) had the highest rates of overall confirmed wrong-way crashes and fatal wrong-way crashes per mile on urban divided highways in the state, according to ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel.

At the governor’s behest, the agency accelerated the $3.7 million project along a 15-mile stretch of I-17, which is expected to be fully operational by early next year.

The pilot I-17 wrong-way vehicle detection and warning system will be in place indefinitely in the area between the I-10 “Stack” interchange near downtown and Loop 101 in North Phoenix, according to Mr. Nintzel.

“It’s too early to say where else the technology might be installed,” he said. “That door is certainly open though.”

The thermal camera system takes a three-phase approach when a wrong-way vehicle is detected: alerting wrong-way drivers with illuminated signs and flashing lights so they can self-correct, warning right-way drivers with overhead message boards and automatically focus highway cameras on the wrong-way vehicle and send automated alerts to the Highway Patrol, helping troopers intercept vehicles faster.

“This technology cannot prevent wrong-way driving,” Mr. Nintzel said. “Our goal is to reduce the risk by immediately alerting law enforcement so that troopers can quickly respond while ADOT posts warning messages for other freeway drivers.”

This is not the first time ADOT has tackled this problem. The agency has been researching ways to reduce wrong-way crashes since 2010.

In 2014, ADOT installed two permanent wrong-way detection systems that use radar to detect a wrong-way driver and instantly notify the ADOT Traffic Operations Center of the wrong-way entry. ADOT also that year installed larger, lower-mounted wrong-way signs at exit ramps and added pavement markers in the shape of large, reflective arrows pointing the right way along the ramps.

In early 2015, ADOT procured three new wrong-way LED warning systems that give wrong-way drivers a visible real-time indication before entering a highway.

Although all of this technology helps reduce risk, it does not prevent wrong-way driving.Asked if road construction or insufficient signs could be factors in these types of crashes,

DPS spokesman Bart Graves said drivers are to blame.

“I know of no instance where road construction was to blame for a wrong-way crash,” he said, noting this year so far 56 wrong-way drivers were arrested on suspicion of impairment.

Mr. Gutier said 80 percent of the wrong-way drivers are impaired.

“That is the big issue,” he said. “How do you stop impaired drivers?”

A 2015 ADOT study found a “significant number” of wrong-way crashes from 2004-14 were the results of drivers impaired by alcohol and/or drugs.

The analysis showed that in Arizona, 65 percent of all wrong-way drivers were somehow impaired; 42 percent were legally impaired by alcohol and 6 percent were impaired by drugs, either prescription or illegal.

The analysis also looked at the age of the driver and found older wrong-way drivers aligned with other research in the United States.

In a 2012 study, the National Transportation Safety Board found drivers over the age of 70 accounted for about 15 percent of the wrong-way crashes nationwide. Arizona’s crash data analysis shows wrong-way drivers over the age of 70 were involved in 10 percent of the wrong-way crashes over the 10-year analysis period.

Although the majority of wrong-way drivers were aged 16 to 35, in wrong-way crashes involving older drivers, drivers aged 76 and older were far more likely to be the wrong-way driver than the right-way driver.

Arizona is not the only state wrestling with how to curb wrong-way crashes. On average, 300 to 400 people are killed each year in the country as a result of a wrong-way driver, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Although this represents about 1 percent of the total number of traffic-related fatalities that occur annually, wrong-way crashes tend to be more severe than other types of crashes, resulting in death and serious injuries, according to DOT.

In Arizona, 25 percent of all wrong-way crashes from 2004-14 went fatal compared with 1 percent of crashes overall that occur on divided highways, according to the ADOT study.

Where Arizona ranks in the country with wrong-way crashes was not readily found. Representatives from the Federal Highway Administration and the NTSB said they did not have the information nor did the national database of traffic fatal crashes, which is maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

But according to Mr. Gutier, “Florida, Colorado and Texas have more wrong-way driving incidents than we do.”

A 2015 study on wrong-way crashes by the Florida Department of Transportation found more than 6,300 potential wrong-way crashes for 2009-13.

Editor’s Note: Two latest wrong-way incidents occurred in the Valley, one on Sept. 8 that injured seven people, including four children on I-10 near 19th Avenue, and another on Sept 10 when a driver was arrested after he drove the wrong way on Loop 101 near Union Hills Drive. He was believed to be under the influence, according to law enforcement.