New technology could stop deadly wrong-way crashes

BOSTON — A car is heading in the wrong direction on the highway, speeding right at you. It's turned into a lethal weapon.

You only have seconds, if you're lucky, to make a life or death decision. That nightmare scenario happened more often last year in Massachusetts, than it has in a decade.

But some neighboring states are taking a proactive approach to stop these wrong-way crashes, like the one that killed a group of college friends heading back to school last October.

"I miss all the little things he'd do," said Kipp Diggs.

His 19-year-old son, Kraig, was killed in a horrific car crash on I-495 in Middleboro.

Kraig and three of his friends were returning to college when a wrong-way driver hit them head-on. Massachusetts State Police say that driver was drunk and had marijuana in her system.

Everyone in both cars died.

"This could've been prevented," Kipp Diggs told Boston 25 News.

According to MassDOT, that was one of nine fatal wrong-way crashes in the Commonwealth last year.

In all, wrong-way crashes killed 16 people in the state in 2016. That is the highest number of deadly wrong-way deaths in a decade.

Massachusetts did install larger warning signs on exit ramps and lowered them to eye-level so drivers can see them more easily.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

Rhode Island has taken it a step further.

In 2015, that state's DOT spent $600,000 to install state-of-the-art technology at 24 high-risk exit ramps, according to Steven Pristawa, RI-DOT's acting state traffic and safety engineer.

"Wrong-way happens so fast, if you save a couple of seconds, it could make a difference," Pristawa said.

Detectors recognize if a driver has entered an off-ramp in the wrong direction.  A radar sensor then activates a series of flashing lights in the wrong-way signs to alert the driver.  If that fails, the system triggers an alarm at the traffic command center and notifies state police. It's literally been a life-saver.

"The amount of people causing crashes at these locations that have these signs is greatly reduced," according to Pristawa.

Rhode Island has had no fatalities at the locations where they installed detection systems.

In the five years prior, they had 13 wrong-way fatalities. Massachusetts had 38 during that same stretch.

The system cost $25,000 at each of the two dozen locations.

MASSACHUSETTS DOT RESPONSE

MassDOT has not invested in the technology and would not go on camera.

In a statement, they said:
"In the initial planning stages of designing a pilot program that will explore the feasibility of an electronic detection system designed to alert personnel of wrong-way drivers at locations on major highways throughout the Commonwealth."

Kip Diggs feels that if Massachusetts already had this technology, his son and his friends may still be alive.

"What's it going to cost? Money is not an issue.  A life is definitely worth it you know, when it could've been prevented, " Diggs said.

Officials in Rhode Island tell Boston 25 News that MassDOT representatives recently visited them in Providence to see how their system works.  MassDOT will only say it has hired a consultant to look into the program.

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