Articles Tagged with Wrong-way driver

A recent collision on Business 80 in Sacramento was only the latest in a rash of California highway wrong-way driver crashes — some of them deadly — that have occurred in recent months. Fortunately, this incident only resulted in “moderate” injuries to the wrong-way driver himself. The driver of the big rig that he hit was not injured. Unfortunately, this was not the case in a wrong-way crash in Long Beach that killed one driver and critically injured two other people.  Nor was it the case in a May collision on Interstate 80 in Sacramento that killed three people, a May crash on Highway 50 in Sacramento that killed four, or a January collision on Interstate 80 in Sacramento that killed three people.

A common factor in many wrong-way crashes is alcohol use.  The drivers in these incidents are frequently confused by highway on-ramps and off-ramps, entering against traffic on the off-ramps.  They are then frequently found to be driving against traffic in the left-hand fast lanes, thinking instead that they are “safely” driving in the correct direction in the right-hand slow lanes.  These accidents are most common at night, and the sudden appearance of the wrong-way driver in front of the right-way drivers — with combined closing speeds well over 100 mph — leaves other drivers with very, very little time to react.  The high combined closing speed also adds to the severity of the impacts that result.

Taken at Fairfield Waters Townsville Qld.© 2010 I retain Copyright.

Taken at Fairfield Waters Townsville Qld.© 2010 I retain Copyright.

Wrong-way driving has again caused an accident in the Sacramento region.  It was only a few short months ago we wrote about a spate of the wrong-way driver causing fatal automobile accidents in the Sacramento region.  You can read that blog post here.  Now again, last night (July 30, 2015) there is another suspected incident involving a wrong-way drunk driver on Highway 99 near 47th Avenue.

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