Transportation officials are hoping that a new pilot program will help reduce the number of wrong-way accidents on Interstate 44 in St. Louis, Missouri.
According to the press release from the Missouri Department of Transportation and St. Louis Public Radio, there have been 25 crashes on I-44 caused by wrong-way drivers in the last eight years. This new pilot program involves installation of solar-powered signs equipped with a sensor that identifies cars moving in the wrong direction down an exit ramp. Once a car is detected, the signs will begin to flash and also alert local authorities.
MoDOT Traffic Operations Engineer Teresa Krenning said this program is in the very early stages and MoDOT will be gathering information from various signs over the next few years. “So it would be a couple of years down the road before we would have confidence in saying it was successful, and there are costs associated with these too,” said Krenning. “It’s hard to say it would be something we would install everywhere, but it might at a location experiencing issues.”
Krenning said that fifteen signs, costing $100,000, will be installed at eight locations along I-44. These locations include: eastbound Lafayette, westbound Arsenal, Grand and Vandeventer and east and westbound Hampton and Jefferson.
MoDOT will be testing the signs during both daylight and nighttime hours and the dates and times for testing are unknown at this time. Krenning said the delays should be minimal as the test should not take long to conduct. The signs are scheduled to be installed and tested by the first week of November.
Accidents in 2014 occurring on I-44 near Stanton and Lindbergh resulted in fatalities and serious injures. Those I-44 exits are not part of the new pilot program. Wrong-way drivers are dangerous on any street or highway but particularly dangerous on interstates due to speed and volume of traffic.
Wrong way accidents occur for many reasons such as inattentiveness, confusion and driving under the influence. The pilot project seems to be focused on exit ramps in the city where traffic can become congested and also at locations where drivers can inadvertently go the wrong direction on a one way exit. Anytime you enter an exit or road going the wrong way, it is extremely dangerous as cars coming the opposite direction are not expecting to see your car nor are they yielding if you try to merge or cross, thus crashes can be highly likely.
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