PHOENIX (AP) - The second wrong-way car accident of the week in metro Phoenix killed the driver and marked the latest in a series of head-on wrecks plaguing area freeways.
Drivers traveling against traffic on Arizona freeways claimed at least seven lives in 2016 and at least four so far this year.
In the latest incident, the driver of a wrong-way car was killed early Thursday when the vehicle collided with a truck on a Phoenix freeway ramp and plunged onto another ramp below. The man was driving southbound in northbound lanes of Interstate 17 for at least 1 mile before the wreck occurred on a ramp at the I-10 interchange.
Authorities said the driver of a truck carrying diesel fuel that collided with the wrong-way car wasn’t injured. A hazmat team inspected the truck, which carried 800 gallons of fuel, and cleaned a small spill.
The Department of Public Safety has received 698 calls reporting wrong-way drivers and made 36 related DUI arrests this year.
State troopers arrested another wrong-way driver Monday after he drove the wrong way down U.S. 60 for seven miles and collided with five other vehicles. Court records show Trent Sanford Walker, a 32-year-old Mesa man, later told officers he took 15 to 20 tablets of cough medicine at once. Authorities said no one was injured.
About 60 percent of wrong-way drivers are impaired by alcohol, according to the Department of Public Safety. Most wrong-way collisions happen after dark and on weekends, and involve drivers between the ages of 16 and 35. A 2012 study by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded most wrong-way accidents occur in lanes closest to the median - the fast lane.
State police advise avoiding that lane late at night when most wrong-way accidents take place.
The Arizona Department of Transportation began a pilot program in 2015 that has since installed hundreds of larger and lower “wrong way” and “do not enter” signs on more than 100 freeway ramps. State police spokesman Raul Garcia said it’s also up to the public to reduce the number of wrong-way accidents.
“It’s on everyone to get involved and take the keys away from would-be impaired drivers, or call 911 so DPS can,” Garcia said.
DPS spokesman Quentin Mehr said he recommends drivers remain focused on the roads and aware of their surroundings so they can react quickly to wrong-way drivers.
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