Police say 3 dead following wrong-way accident on Phoenix highway

PHOENIX — Three young people, including two Grand Canyon University students, were killed in a wrong-way crash on a Phoenix freeway early Friday, authorities said.

The driver of a car heading south on northbound Interstate 17 near Greenway Road was killed, along with two in the other car.

Three killed this morning in wrong-way crash, ages 19 – 22, along #I17 and Greenway. #DPSNews pic.twitter.com/gzKemBdOuP

— Dept. Public Safety (@Arizona_DPS) April 14, 2017

The wrong-way driver, a 22-year-old man, had gotten on the freeway, alone, at Happy Valley Road and driven a handful of miles before smashing into a car driven by a 20-year-old woman. A 19-year-old woman was in the passenger seat.

Two people who were killed were students at Grand Canyon University, the school said.

It is with great sorrow & heavy hearts that we share that 3 people, including 2 GCU students, were killed in an accident last night.

— Grand Canyon U (@gcu) April 14, 2017

Garcia said the identities of those killed in the wreck weren’t immediately available. But Grand Canyon University spokesman Bob Romantic said two of those killed were students at the private Christian university and that they were in separate vehicles involved in the crash on Interstate 17.

Romantic said the university, out of respect for the privacy of the families, would not be releasing information about the students. The car carrying the two women, believed to be sisters, had North Carolina license plates.

It’s not immediately known whether the wrong-way driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and that will be determined by toxicology tests conducted by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office, Garcia said.

Authorities have been seeing a spate of wrong-way wrecks on Phoenix freeways in recent years, with drug and alcohol use typically the main culprit. Authorities have responded to seven wrong-way wrecks with injuries or deaths statewide so far this year, compared to nine for all of last year, said Trooper Kameron Lee, another Arizona DPS spokesman.

State officials are trying to find ways to prevent the crashes, most of which happen on the web of freeways that weave through the Phoenix metro area.

In an effort to keep drivers on the right side of the freeway, the Arizona Department of Transportation has installed hundreds of larger and lower “wrong way” and “do not enter” signs on more than 100 freeway ramps.

The agency plans later this year to install a pilot detection and warning system on Interstate 17 and ramps, agency spokesman Steve Elliott said.

The system will send alerts to law enforcement and transportation department traffic operators, post warnings on overheard message boards, provide location updates on wrong-way drivers and trigger flashing warning signs at exit ramps to try “to get the wrong-way driver to self-correct,” ADOT said in a statement.

“Ultimately, engineering, along with enforcement, can be only one part of the response to wrong-way driving because this is first and foremost a driver behavior issue,” the statement said.

ADOT began planning the pilot project in late 2015 following a rash of wrong-way crashes, including ones that killed an off-duty Mesa police officer and a young Mesa couple.

The Department of Public Safety regards wrong-way driving primarily as a societal problem, Garcia said.

“We want the public to take responsibility” to not get behind the wheel if impaired and to keep others from driving if they’re impaired, he said. Alternatively, “if they can’t take those keys away, dial 911 so we can take those keys away.”

He also said drivers should stay alert, avoid distractions and plan how they would respond in a split second to a hazard such as an oncoming wrong-way vehicle.

 

KTAR’s Jim Cross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

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