FDOT using new technology to stop wrong-way drivers

Seeing a wrong-way driver coming straight at you is terrifying. But, new FDOT technology is trying to stop how far those drivers can get.

While the technology hasn’t been implemented in Southwest Florida yet, they have done some studying recently during a bridge closure in Tampa.

FDOT simulated more than 140 wrong-way drivers using motorcycles, small and medium cars as well as trucks and vans. The camera caught them every single time.

JoAnn May is a Communications Specialist for District One with the Florida Department of Transportation.

“The Florida Department of Transportation, District One does not have the same technology that is being tested in D7.  Our traffic engineers are reviewing the possibility of installing a camera detection system for wrong-way driving at several off-ramps on I-75 which includes Lee and Collier County in SW Florida. However, funding at this time has not been identified,” said May.

And the goal, of course, is safer roads. There have been multiple other kinds of improvements in SWFL.

Kris Carson is a spokesperson for FDOT. “The quicker we detect a wrong-way vehicle, the quicker FHP can dispatch a unit out there and stop the person and hopefully save lives,” Carson.

The latest FDOT numbers were from 2015 but, there were almost 1,500 wrong-way crashes in the state of Florida where 96 people were killed and close to 1,500 injured.

The cameras are just one method FDOT is using to combat wrong-way driving.

Carson says Florida is a leader in the country. Other states ask about methods being used here including road markings and radar detection in signs to warn drivers that they’re going the wrong way.