New technology aims to deter wrong drivers – NBC Connecticut

Keeping Connecticut drivers on the right side of the road, the correct side, remains a challenge.

Twenty-two people have died in wrongful crashes this year. Now, the state is trying to do something about it, adding a system that includes special misdirection signs.

Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Morgan explained how it works and who will pay for it.

Mike Heidke: So for those of you who haven’t read it, what are these wrong way systems involved? Is there data to prove that the system actually works?

Josh Morgan: Yes, so these wrong direction LED flashing signs are activated by drivers driving in the wrong direction. So there’s actually a camera mounted on a pole and it’s pushing an invisible grid onto the sidewalk. So it doesn’t activate when the car is going in the right direction. However, these lights activate if the car or vehicle is heading in the wrong direction. So they are the bright red LED flashes on top of the four different wrong direction signs. So one is closer to the ramp and one is further up the ramp. So really hard trying to get someone to pull into the freeway in the wrong direction.

Mike Heidke: Now, correct me if I’m wrong, I think I read this recently and there was one as a trial, I think maybe in the Danbury area. Was data collected from it, and what types of data were collected? Does it prove that this works?

Josh Morgan: Yes, the Danbury location went live in January 2020 at the intersection of I-84 and Route 6 in Danbury. What the technology does is send an email every time the camera is activated. So what we’re able to do is parse this data and see if it’s an emergency vehicle that has to enter the highway in the wrong direction or a maintenance vehicle. With this data, we saw that it was activated dozens of times and did not crash in that general area. Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s no wrong way the driver continues elsewhere. But in that general area, there were no retrograde accidents. In fact, when our team was testing the second location in Southington that just went live, they witnessed a driver veering off the highway in the wrong direction in the afternoon, the lights came on, they stopped and corrected themselves. Therefore, we have first-hand knowledge of the success of this technology.

Mike Heidke: Boy, you can’t beat it. Okay, so I’m guessing that in many cases, maybe at night or early in the morning, maybe a sleepy or even drunk driver ends up going to the wrong entrance. Now, if the warning system works and reroutes them, how likely is it that these drivers are still in danger on the road? Say they’re drunk and they won’t go the wrong way on the highway. But did the local police warn that one of the signs was activated and they should look into it?

Josh Morgan: Utilize about 85% of the data for these runway drivers that we show is compromised. So yes, of course, if they don’t take the highway and continue to drive on local roads. If they still drive impaired, that’s a risk for everyone. But what we do know is that wrong-way crashes on highways happen at high speeds and are often fatal to drivers of wrong-way cars and the people they hit. We have 15 more locations coming online as part of our pilot locations in 2023, but at the 16th location near Hartford Brainerd Airport, we’ll have technology built in that will alert state police when it’s activated. So this will be another pilot in Connecticut as we work to keep drivers safe.

Mike Heidke: So if we keep adding locations, where are some of the locations we can expect? I can think of a specific one in Newtown that has access to the 84 entrance ramp. Is there anywhere else across the state?

Josh Morgan: Yes, you know, the Department of Transportation looked at over 700 disaster sites across the state. We’ve identified 236 locations as high risk, meaning that the up and down ramps are on the same side of the road, next to each other, and there is a high prevalence of restaurants, bars, hotels, things that keep people late at night. The data showed that the majority of false crashes occurred after 11 p.m. and before 5 a.m. Therefore, these locations were selected again. So the locations that will go live this year are Route 2 in Colchester, exit 34 at 95 and Milford, exit 4 at 291 and South Windsor. That’s what Connecticut Department of Transportation employees will do internally in 2023. Again, this is happening statewide. I-91 is in North Haven, 384 is in Manchester, and 91 is in New Haven. Likewise, 236 disasters were identified as high risk by us. So we’re going to hit as many of these as fast as possible.

Mike Heidke: So how much would something like this cost, and who would pay for it?

Josh Morgan: Not every disaster is the same. The technology involves hard-wired electricity, so we approved funding for a pilot at 16 locations next year, but this year’s state budget includes an additional $20 million. The governor and the legislature understand that this is a crisis in Connecticut. Therefore, they allocated an additional $20 million to DOT to accelerate the program. That’s what we’re going to do, disaster is all over Connecticut.

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