Man in golf cart drives wrong way onto freeway in Chandler

PHOENIX — Arizona authorities stopped a wrong-way driver early Thursday who made it onto a freeway in a golf cart.

The 83-year-old man behind the wheel was rolling along Loop 202 in Chandler around 5:20 a.m. when he was spotted.

Trooper Kameron Lee of the Arizona Department Public Safety said the man had likely come from the McQueen Road ramp and headed west into eastbound traffic.

The unidentified man then got off the roadway at Arizona Avenue and turned onto Germann Road, where police and a DPS officer finally boxed him in.

Troopers and @ChandlerPolice located and stopped an elderly male who reportedly drove wrong-way in his golf cart on the Santan L-202. The 83-year-old was confused but in good health. He was taken home by troopers where his wife took custody of him. pic.twitter.com/16owrkGD5O

— Dept. Public Safety (@Arizona_DPS) August 23, 2018

He was unharmed but appeared confused, DPS said, telling officers he thought he was going to a meeting.

Medical personnel looked him over and sent him home with officers, who left him with his wife.

It’s not the first time the driver has gotten on a freeway in his golf cart.

He reached Interstate 10 in July driving without lights in the early morning darkness near Wild Horse Pass Road.

He weaved in and out of traffic, at one point puttering near a semitruck, before authorities got him off the road. He avoided injury that time, too.

The number of wrong-way freeway crashes in Arizona has gone down slightly from this time a year ago.

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 20 there have been 42 wrong-way accidents; last year during the same span there were 43.

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