LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – “Stay right at night” is a phrase that’s been used to help avoid wrong way drivers.
FOX5 talked with Nevada Highway Patrol officials who explained why that’s important.
“The reason for that is when somebody is a wrong-way driver, in their mind they think they’re driving the right way. So, most of the time, 80 percent of the time, they’re on the left side next to the median wall. And that’s considered your fast lane. So, you always want to be in the far-right lanes of travel to avoid that,” said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Shawn Haggstrom.
Haggstrom says many wrong-way crashes happen between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., especially on weekends.
Haggstrom also says to scan 15 to 20 seconds ahead of you while driving. That may help you spot a wrong way driver faster, giving you more time to react. The trooper also says don’t speed, especially around hills or corners where your view of a wrong way driver may be blocked. Speeding may reduce your reaction time to a driver coming at you.
Haggstrom says flashing your lights at a wrong-way driver may get them to stop. And says drivers should report a wrong-way driver to NHP as soon as they can safely call, so troopers can try to stop a wrong way driver before a crash.
“That’s a first priority call for all of us,” said Trooper Haggstrom.
The trooper said NHP dispatch has received 711 wrong-way calls in the Las Vegas Valley this year. However, he says some of those calls may have been for the same wrong way driver.
“We had an incident two nights ago. We had a wrong-way driver which NHP was able to stop at I-215 and Buffalo. And they probably received 30 calls on that,” said Haggstrom.
He also says in a majority of those 711 calls; the driver corrected their direction before NHP arrived on scene.
A wrong way crash just killed a wrong way driver and off duty Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer Colton Pulsipher on the I-15 near Valley of Fire State Park.
The Nevada Highway Patrol provided new statistics about wrong way driver crashes and deaths. Officials say the 2023 and 2024 information is preliminary and may change. They also say a high percentage of the crashes, using toxicology reports, were positive for drugs or alcohol.
Nevada wrong way crashes provided by the Nevada Highway Patrol:
2019
- 10 fatal wrong way crashes
- 11 fatalities
- 8 crashes in Clark County
90% positive for alcohol or drugs
2021
- 9 fatal wrong way crashes
- 13 fatalities
- 8 crashes in Clark County
100% positive for alcohol or drugs
2022
- 4 fatal wrong way crashes
- 13 fatalities
- 2 crashes in Clark County
100% positive for alcohol or drugs
2023
- 5 fatal crashes
- 7 fatalities
- 2 crashes in Clark County
- 75% positive for alcohol or drugs
2024 as of October
- 12 fatal crashes
- 20 fatalities
- 10 crashes in Clark County
100% positive for alcohol or drugs
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