Why Do People Drive the Wrong Way?

Driving the correct direction on a highway is a pretty basic thing that many people get wrong. They end up driving at highway speeds directly at other vehicles heading their way just as quickly. Drivers may have little or no time to get out of the way. How are these situations created?

Because of the speeds involved, wrong-way crashes often result in severe or fatal injuries to those involved. An Evansville woman was killed after she drove the wrong way on an interstate highway in Webster County in July. She struck an oncoming truck whose driver was uninjured, according to the Evansville Courier & Press.

AAA Calls Wrong Way Driving a Persistent and Devastating Threat That’s Getting Worse

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reported in 2021 that wrong-way crashes cost 2,008 deaths on divided highways from 2015 to 2018 in the US. That comes to about 500 deaths a year, or almost ten a week.  That’s up 34% from 375 annual wrong-way crash deaths from 2010 to 2014.

Chances that you’ll drive the wrong way increase, according to AAA researchers, if you have the following characteristics:

• Alcohol impairment
• Advanced age
• Driving without passengers

They considered eight factors that could lead to wrong-way driving on an interstate and found those issues were the most important.

Alcohol impairment is the most significant factor in most wrong-way driving crashes, reports the AAA. Drivers older than 70 are also at more risk than younger drivers. Those who are 75 to 79 are especially a problem. They spend less time on the road than younger drivers, but they’re a higher share of wrong-way drivers.

Nearly 87% of wrong-way drivers are alone in their vehicles. If a passenger is in the car, they may warn the driver and prevent them from starting to go the wrong way or help them out of the situation if they start driving against traffic.

AAA Foundation used data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System to compare wrong-way drivers with those going the “right way” but involved in accidents.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Finds Age and Intoxication the Leading Factors in Fatal Highway Wrong-Way Driving Accidents

The NTSB’s 2012 Special Investigation Report into divided highway wrong-way fatal crashes states the following:

• Wrong-way collisions are relatively infrequent (they’re about 3% percent of highway accidents) but are much more likely to cause severe and fatal injuries
• A Virginia study found the fatality rate for wrong-way crashes on divided highways is 27 times that of other accidents
• A Michigan study estimates that 22% of wrong-way highway collisions were fatal, compared to 0.3% for all highway accidents in the same time frame

The NTSB found the following:

• Among the 1,566 wrong-way drivers, 936 drivers (60%) had evidence of alcohol consumption
• Of 1,150 whose blood alcohol content (BAC) was reported, 114 (10%) had BAC readings between what’s needed to be considered intoxicated to nearly twice that level (0.08% to 0.15%)
• 684 drivers (59%) had a BAC measurement twice the legal level or higher
• 9% of wrong-way drivers causing accidents were convicted of driving while intoxicated or impaired within three years before their wrong-way crash, compared to 3.2% for drivers causing accidents while traveling the correct way on a highway

For drivers in accidents while going the right way, only 6.5% showed signs of drinking alcohol. Younger drivers traveling the wrong way were much more likely to be intoxicated than those who were older.

Most wrong-way drivers were 20 to 50 years old. There were fewer wrong-way than right-way drivers, causing accidents for those younger than 70.

The opposite is true for those 70 and older. In this age group, the number of wrong-way drivers causing crashes far exceeds the number of those going the right way and causing collisions.

For those aged 70 to 79, there were nearly 2.5 times more wrong-way driver accidents and almost 30 times more for drivers older than 80. For every driver older than 80 causing a fatal accident while traveling in the correct direction on a divided highway, there were nearly 30 drivers that age starting deadly accidents going the wrong way.

The special report’s findings were based on information from accidents that happened from 2004 to 2009.

The report’s findings were based on 2004 through 2009 data on 1,566 fatal divided highway collisions (including those on entrance and exit ramps) involving vehicles heading the wrong way.

Speak To a Louisville Car Accident Attorney Near You

We are your boots on the ground if you or a family member were injured or killed in a Kentucky wrong-way accident. Call Satterley & Kelley PLLC to speak with a skilled personal injury lawyer at our Louisville office toll-free at 855-385-9532 or complete our online contact form to get started.