COLUMBUS, Ohio — Another wrong-way driver got onto the roads of Columbus early Saturday morning. That incident ended with the driver being charged with driving while impaired but before the driver crashed into any other drivers on the road.
Columbus police said the driver was stopped on Interstate 70. The driver’s vehicle was picked up by the Ohio Department of Transportation on state Route 315 before heading the wrong way down I-70. The driver then used an emergency crossover to turn back the correct direction on the interstate before being stopped.
This is the latest wrong-way driving incident in the city. There have been others across the state in recent weeks, including one in Cleveland that resulted in a crash where two people were killed.
ODOT spokesperson Matt Brunig said because wrong-way crashes account for so few in the state, it’s hard to determine if there has been a recent uptick. Bruning added that some of it comes down to seeing more wrong-way drivers thanks to technology.
“We're also getting better data about incidents where a driver may get in the wrong direction and not be involved in a crash. Before, we never would have known that unless someone told us because there wasn't a crash report generated by that,” he said. "We have 1,000 cameras across the state, so if we can pick up on these drivers and be able to alert police in real time where they are, that's going to be an advantage to stop these drivers.”
In October, 10TV gave viewers an exclusive look at the $2.7 million investment ODOT is making in Columbus to hopefully catch more wrong-way drivers. That technology will alert authorities when drivers enter the interstate going in the wrong direction immediately. However, it could be a couple of years before it is put into service.