The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recently collaborated with Construction Technology (AHMCT) Research Center to produce a pair of reports focusing on wrong way driver accident prevention.
Officials said one of the results of the collaboration is the use of
reflectors alerting drivers they are entering the roadway in the wrong direction – adding the tool was so successful at deterring wrong way drivers that Caltrans has installed the reflective markers on hundreds of miles of highways.
“Adding the two-way reflective markers proved to be so effective that Caltrans updated its statewide design standards,” Toks Omishakin, Caltrans director, said. “It’s a low-cost measure we can use throughout the state to deter wrong way drivers and potentially save lives on California’s highway system.”
Caltrans installed and tested varied methods of detecting wrong way drivers along Sacramento and San Diego exit ramps, including using two-way reflective pavement markers showing white or yellow to right way drivers and red to wrong way drivers; installing Wrong Way signs at the off-ramp and Do Not Enter signs equipped with LED lights flashing 24 hours a day; and utilizing active monitoring systems using radar to detect wrong way drivers. The systems activate a secondary set of LED signs when a wrong way driver enters the ramp and sends real-time alerts and photos to Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
UC Davis AHMCT researchers partnered with Caltrans to execute a second study using a Vision-Based Site Monitoring (VBSM) system in Sacramento to better understand the actions that lead to wrong way driving incidents.
“Our hypothesis was that some of the causes of wrong way driving start before a driver enters the ramp,” Researcher and AHMCT co-director Ty Lasky, who helped lead the study, said.