Number of wrong-way driving incidents in Arizona up in 2017

Dec 22, 2017, 3:34 PM

PHOENIX — The issue of wrong-way drivers continues to plague Arizona — and it’s appearing to get worse.

Col. Frank Milstead, the head of Arizona Department of Public Safety, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that the number of wrong-way driving incidents have grown by more than 8 percent from 2016 to 2017.

Since Jan. 1, Milstead said the department has logged 1,721 incidents of wrong-way drivers across Arizona.

By this time last year, that number was at 1,589, Milstead said.

Milstead said multiple public information campaigns, a partnership with the Phoenix Police Department and the installation of a $3.7 million thermal detection system on the Interstate 17 has had some effect, but not enough.

The public safety head said impaired driving is to blame for a majority of those incidents, expanding on his September comment that about 70 percent of wrong-way crashes on state highways are caused by impaired drivers.

“If you look at the numbers of arrested drunk drivers over the last 10 years, they haven’t changed a lot because we as a society haven’t gotten in front of this issue and decided it’s unacceptable,” he said.

Milstead has also said in the past that a lack of police officers is one of the main reasons there are more wrong-way drivers on state freeways.

It is no secret that state leaders, including Gov. Doug Ducey, have wanted to put an end to the wrong-way driving problem that has plagued the state over the years.

The state began construction on a wrong-way driver detection system in November.

The project was approved by the state Transportation Board in June and then accelerated by Ducey after a series of wrong way accident-related deaths occurred in the same month.

The detection system, once installed, will cause lights to flash at wrong-way drivers to get them to stop. They will also alert authorities and make traffic cameras turn toward the driver so the vehicle can be tracked.