LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) -They were delayed for months, but now some wrong-way driver alert signs are operational around the Las Vegas Valley.
“The system is functional to the point where when somebody drives the wrong way entering the freeway at one of those four interchanges, it triggers the system, sets off the flashing beacons that are designed to alert drivers to turn around before they enter the freeway,” said Justin Hopkins with NDOT.
The flashing wrong-way warning signs are located at Starr Avenue and I-15, Skye and Kyle Canyon and Durango at U.S. 95. The Durango location has been operational for a while as part of an initial three-year pilot program.
That pilot program, conducted with signs mostly in Northern Nevada, had impressive results. NDOT says nearly 90 percent of drivers who encountered the signs stopped, turned around and never made it onto a highway in the wrong direction.
Hopkins says impaired and distracted driving are the main reasons for wrong-way driving crashes.
“What we really want to do is have these systems in place so they can get people’s attention and hopefully correct their bad decisions, correct their bad behavior, correct them from getting on the freeway in the wrong direction before they ever enter the main line,” said Hopkins.
If a car still ends up making it onto a highway in the wrong direction, an automatic alert is generated at a traffic management center, as is video of the vehicle. Hopkins says officials can then track the car with traffic cameras and let law enforcement know where it is, so they can stop the vehicle.
One eventual goal is to alert the public on highway traffic signs that a wrong-way driver may be coming their way.
Hopkins says more wrong-way driver alert sign systems are coming to the valley but says they may not know where they will be located for another six months or so.
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