It was 11:15 p.m. and Mr. Jones had just finished a dinner meeting with business associates. He was headed home, west-bound on Interstate 80, when the Bluetooth hands-free system in his late-model Lexus SUV alerted him to a call. He glanced at the screen and saw that it was “Mildred (Home).”
Mr. Jones pressed the phone button on the steering wheel and heard a worried voice on the other end.
“Honey,” said his concerned wife, “You need to be extra careful. I just heard a report about a wrong-way driver on the freeway, so be on the lookout and be extra careful.”
Mr. Jones scanned the road ahead. In a split-second, he gave his wife an update: “Oh, dear,” he blurted, “it’s not just one wrong-way driver; there are hundreds of them.”
When I heard the joke, I laughed pretty hard. But I was also cringing as I did, imagining Mr. Jone’s next moments. It was one of those humorous tales that hits a bit too close to home, and I couldn’t help thinking how it would be for the other drivers to be heading down the freeway at 75 miles per hour and seeing headlights coming straight at him or her. Given the speed of both cars, it would mean that your approach speed is roughly 150 mph, and you’re going to have only tenths (or maybe hundredths) of a second to act.
Media photos of the aftermath of wrong-way collisions have shown the terrifying devastation of such super-speed accidents. At 150 mph, your safety restraints and airbags probably won’t save you.
Sadly, this has become an all-too-familiar scenario. In fact, it’s actually gotten to the point where I’ve had nightmares about it: Utah has had what seems like a startling uptick of wrong-way-driver freeway accidents. In 2023, there were 18 of them, with six fatalities—including a single week in December in which there were six such incidents—four of which ended in a death.
In one of those fatal accidents, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Carlos Rios-Redd almost died in a head-on crash as he maneuvered his vehicle in an effort to save others. The seriously injured trooper was pulled from his smoking vehicle by another trooper who had been close behind and rushed to a hospital. But the wrong-way driver, 26-year-old Natalie Munchgesang of Provo, died at the scene. A passenger in Munchgesang’s car was sent to a local hospital in critical condition.
Surprisingly, despite the concentration of wrong-way driving incidents at the end of 2023 and the fact that the number of wrong-way accidents had doubled over the previous year, the fatalities dropped. I guess we can chalk that up to luck.
The important thing is that there really is a problem, and the Utah Department of Transportation has already worked on making the roads safer. Early in 2023, it tested its state-of-the-art system on the northbound offramp from Legacy Highway at the Interstate 15 Farmington interchange. The system consists of radar and infrared detection cameras, and “Wrong Way” high-intensity LED to alert the errant driver. It also provides an immediate alert to nearby law enforcement and puts an immediate message on the lighted, scrolling, overhead freeway warning/advisory signs.
The test at the Farmington interchange was deemed a great success. During a short test period, 23 wrong-way drivers were alerted, and all of them turned around. Everyone understood: It could have been 23 dead drivers, along with their passengers and anyone who had been unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
By the end of 2023, UDOT had already installed 15 of its wrong-way detection systems on Utah’s offramps, and 22 more are now scheduled for installation.
Let’s face it: Particularly in inclement weather and low-visibility situations, freeway offramp signs can be momentarily confusing to just about anyone. But if you’re impaired, the odds of a wrong-way accident increase dramatically. Sadly, many of Utah’s other highway fatalities have been contributed to by chemical impairment and, nationally, it’s estimated that impairment as a cause has been implicated in up to 85% of all motor vehicle accidents.
For those of us who felt that the recently-passed .05% alcohol limit law was a bit extreme—after using the .08% standard for decades—it may even be time to reconsider how our state deals with impaired driving. While the .05% seemed unreasonable at the time, now I’m pretty sure that someone who’s been drinking simply doesn’t belong at the wheel of a motor vehicle.
The wrong-way detection and alert systems will make our roads safer. It will certainly slow the trend in that type of accidents. But I’m thinking impairment is the real culprit, and that countries enforcing a “zero tolerance” standard may have the better idea.
Such a tightening of the laws may seem to be a bit draconian. But, then again—as Mr. Jones probably found out—dying in a highway accident is just no fun.
The author is a retired businessman, novelist, columnist and former Vietnam-era Army assistant public information officer. He resides in Riverton with his wife, Carol, and their adorable and ferocious “Poppy.” comments@cityweekly.net
