Thursday, July 31, 2025

Righting the wrong way: New technology helps detect wrong-way driving

 By Sarah Hannon-Nein

The glare of headlights flash into your windshield. You can’t see and your senses are confused as another vehicle comes toward you. It’s the last thing any driver expects. Unfortunately, this happens more often than you might think. There have been thousands of wrong-way driving incidents in Washington in the last few years.

Statistics heading in the wrong direction

Fatalities from wrong-way driving account for about 4% of all traffic deaths in the U.S. (NASEM, 2023). That’s data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. From 2004 to 2025, the rate in Washington state and Maine was 8%. That’s twice the national average.

In recent years, from 2020 to 2025, the Washington State Patrol responded to:

  • 57 fatal wrong-way crashes
  • 441 incidents involving direct contact with wrong-way drivers
  • Over 8,300 reports of vehicles driving the wrong way

In 2014, there were seven wrong-way fatalities in Washington. In 2023, there were 28. That’s nearly a 300% increase in less than 10 years.

The right way forward

With these numbers rising, we’re trying a new way to alert and stop drivers before a wrong move becomes a worst-case situation.

Enter the wrong-way detection system. This tool uses a mix of sensors and cameras to detect vehicles entering ramps or lanes in the wrong direction. When this happens, flashing lights on signs alert wrong-way drivers in real-time, allowing them to fix their mistake. At the same time, the system alerts our traffic management center. Staff at the center can then notify other drivers and law enforcement.

A collage of four photos showing newly installed wrong-way driving prevention signs and markings. Each image includes bright red “WRONG WAY” signs posted along highway ramps or exits. White pavement arrows and reflective red markers are also visible. The roads are surrounded by greenery and trees, with one image featuring a large steel bridge structure in the background.

A traffic management center is where traffic engineers and support staff watch roads using cameras and sensors. But with nearly a thousand cameras statewide, they can’t watch every ramp at every moment. The wrong-way detection system can. It sends immediate alerts, allowing them to spot wrong-way drivers sooner and respond faster.

Many of our highways were built decades ago. They weren’t designed for today’s traffic volumes or driving challenges. Updating them takes time and funding, so we're using new technology to help bridge the gap.

Time for a turnaround

The Legislature directed our agency to find the best places to use strategies to prevent wrong-way driving. They asked us to evaluate and identify geographical locations in both urban and rural highway settings. We’re approaching this in two ways:

  • Installing new technology that can detect, deter and automatically alert traffic management teams when a wrong-way driver is on the road.
  • Implementing low-cost safety upgrades, such as clearer signs and improved pavement markings. With $2 million in statewide funding, we’re working to make our roads safer, before more lives are lost.

We have installed wrong-way detection systems along highway on-ramps at 10 locations. We picked these locations by looking at crash data. We also had input from the Washington State Patrol and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. These include:

  • Four systems on State Route 18 in King County.
  • Two systems on Interstate 5 in Thurston County.
  • Three systems on I-5 and one at the I-5 and SR 14 interchange in Clark County.

We’ve also:

  • Upgraded pavement markings at 108 locations
  • Installed more than 1,000 new signs

We’re doing our part to make roads safer, but real safety starts with smart choices behind the wheel. Most wrong-way collisions involve impaired drivers, and we need everyone to do their part. Stay alert. Drive sober. Help us reduce that 8%.