Wrong-way driver travels across Interstate 10, Loop 202
Aug 14, 2019, 6:29 AM | Updated: 4:29 pm
(ADOT Photo)
PHOENIX – A wrong-way driver made it across parts of two freeways in the East Valley early Wednesday before highway patrol troopers stopped the car.
The driver had been spotted on Interstate 10 near Pecos Road shortly before midnight, an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman said in an email to KTAR News 92.3 FM.
But within a few minutes the car was on Loop 202 near Kyrene Road, still heading in the wrong direction, by the time authorities caught up to the driver.
The car didn’t come into physical contact with any vehicles. The driver had gone westbound in eastbound lanes on I-10 and eastbound in westbound lanes on Loop 202.
The driver finally turned around in the right direction before stopping for authorities.
The driver was arrested and charged with aggravated DUI.
A wrong-way crash between a car and semi-truck shut down Interstate 17 near Carefree Highway early Tuesday.
The wrong-way car smashed into the side of the semi-truck. The woman behind the wheel was ejected. She was taken to a hospital in serious condition.
The truck driver was unharmed.
According to DPS statistics through Sunday, there have been 83 DUI wrong-way driver arrests on state freeways this year. During the same period a year ago, there were 74 of those arrests.