Research from AAA says that wrong-way driving deaths are becoming more likely to happen.
According to the AAA Foundation, the average number of fatal wrong-way crashes in the country has increased by over 30 percent from 2015 to 2018. They say wrong-way crashes are often fatal as they are mainly head-on collisions.
Some of the more obvious factors of these crashes include old age or alcohol impairment, but there’s one that might not be so obvious. That is driving without a passenger. The Ohio Department of Transportation reports that 88 percent of wrong-way crashes in the last decade had a driver that was alone.
Kimberly Schwind, the senior manager of public affairs at AAA says, “A passenger's presence may offer some protection against being a wrong-way driver as that passenger can warn you if you’re going the wrong way.”
AAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are urging state transportation agencies to adopt countermeasures on the roadways to help prevent wrong-way crashes.
