Tarr’s visit to the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Highway Operations Center in Newington to see a potential technological solution to the problem comes after a driver is accused of heading north on Route 128 south on the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge and colliding with a car carrying four young adult Gloucester residents.
New Gloucester High School graduate and hockey standout Christopher Dailey, 18, died from his injuries sustained in the collision June 30.
Laurence Hayes, 81, of Reading faces charges of motor vehicle homicide by reckless driving, improper driving and failing to yield at an intersection related to the crash, according to court documents. Online court records show a pretrial hearing was held Oct. 24 with his next court appearance scheduled for Dec. 19.
In November 2024, a wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Newbury killed Endicott College police department Sgt. Jeremy Cole of Exeter, New Hampshire. And on Oct. 26, Kenneth Landry, 39, of Seabrook, New Hampshire, was killed in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 495 when the Alfa Romeo he was driving north in the southbound lanes struck a tractor-trailer head-on near the Route 213 exit in Methuen.
Gloucester’s tragedy spurred calls by Mayor Greg Verga and Tarr to do something to prevent this from happening again.
A task force of local and state officials are now looking to see what Connecticut has done with technology to tackle wrong-way driving on its highway ramps, which is already paying public safety dividends.
In 2022, Connecticut reported 13-wrong-way crashes resulting in 23 fatalities, with 80% of such accidents involving impaired drivers, attendees learned.
The issue was highlighted in Connecticut by the death at age 39 of Connecticut state Rep. Quentin Williams by a wrong-way driver in January 2023.
The incident prompted legislation that same year calling for the Connecticut Department of Transportation to put in place wrong-way detection and prevention measures on 120 highway exit ramps determined to be at high risk for drivers heading in the incorrect direction. As of Nov. 1, more than 211 systems have been installed.
Tarr said Connecticut’s system uses sensors and video analytic technology to detect wrong-way vehicles. When they are detected, illuminated and flashing warning signs are activated to alert wrong-way drivers to self-correct and turn around, according to a fact sheet on the system.
If a vehicle continues in the wrong direction, real time alerts are sent to the CTDOT Highway Operations Center and Connecticut State Police using a web-based platform. The alerts contain live video of the wrong-way driver, allowing for a coordinated and quick response.
Since Connecticut installed the first system in August 2023, there have been 680 wrong-way drivers at off-ramps with a wrong-way driving detection system installed and of those, 82.5% self-corrected, while 17.5% continued on.
Last year, there were six wrong-way crashes resulting in 13 fatalities. This year so far, there has been one wrong-way fatal crash with one fatality.
The systems cost about $120,000 per installation with maintenance on each $4,500 a year, and this work is done by a contractor, Tarr said.
“They are learning as they go in terms of evolving the system,” he said.
Connecticut has also strengthened enforcement of impaired driving laws, and increased public education and awareness campaigns to update signage, pavement markings, traffic signal directional arrows and delineators.
Connecticut officials were “extraordinary informative and collaborative and helpful,” Tarr said.
“What we are realizing is that we are talking about a cultural shift here to heighten awareness of wrong-way driving and to take proactive steps to deal with it and Connecticut is developing a comprehensive system across every on- and off-ramp in the state,” he said. “They are already well into that program.”
Members from the local wrong-way driving task group visiting the Constitution State were Tarr, Gloucester Police Chief Ed Conley, Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker’s Chief Legal Counsel Scott Dullea, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante’s Research and District Director Dru Tarr, and Ted Costa, Tarr’s deputy director of community outreach. Also on hand was Massachusetts State Police Lt. David Cahill, station commander for the Danvers Barracks.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is piloting wrong-way driving detection systems at several locations in the region, Costa said.
“MassDOT’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan includes initiatives to ‘Accelerate Research and Adoption of Technology’ to use technology for safety pilot programs such as the wrong-way vehicle detection systems,” according to a prepared statement from the agency.
“MassDOT has installed wrong-way vehicle detection (WWVD) systems at 16 ramp locations that have been identified to possibly be more prone to wrong-way vehicle entries. MassDOT utilizes data from the Massachusetts State Police to track and flag areas where wrong-way crashes occur. These 16 systems cost $2.7 million to install and cost about $300,000 per year to maintain. Wrong-way driving detection systems are a valuable tool in deterring vehicles from traveling in the wrong direction through flashing lights and warning signs.”
Although no representative from MassDOT participated in the road trip to Newington with Tarr, they were invited and the agency says it “has had extensive conversations with CTDOT around wrong-way vehicle detection technology, as CTDOT is installing the system currently utilized in Massachusetts.”
Conley said he was grateful for Tarr and Costa for arranging the visit that he said was “super informative.”
“They have such a great operations center and what they doing to address this is a potential model for us,” Conley said. He said Connecticut transportation officials they spoke with were proud of the system they have implemented.
“It’s compelling,” Conley said.
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