Texas has led the nation in wrong-way crashes for several years. In recent weeks, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) started adding signs, advanced sensors and other features to freeways in Tarrant County to try to reduce these collisions and resulting injuries and deaths.
These features were recommended by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) because they have been proven to reduce wrong-way accidents.
However, TxDOT did not start adding signs and other safety features to roadways until a two-year NBC 5 investigation revealed that regulators had failed to make these changes.
There are now 24 freeway ramps in Tarrant County that have signs with flashing LED lights. Sensors turn the lights on if they detect a car traveling the wrong direction. This lights up the sign to alert the driver that he or she is going the wrong way.
The sensors also alert the TxDOT command center so officials can alert police and post messages on light-up message boards to let other drivers know someone is moving in the wrong direction.
TxDOT plans to add these kinds of safety features to more than 50 freeway ramps along Interstate 30 in Arlington and Fort Worth and a section of Texas Highway 360 from Trinity Boulevard to Pioneer Parkway.
TxDOT is targeting freeway ramps because that is one of the main places where drivers begin heading the wrong way. Many of these drivers are impaired and do not notice existing warning signs.
Authorities will also install approximately 100 “Do not Enter” and “Wrong Way” signs that are lower to the ground than normal signs, helping to make them more visible at night.
Meanwhile, in TxDOT’s Dallas district, regulators will add reflective markers to 115 exit ramps in Dallas County next month. The reflectors will appear white to those traveling the right way and red to those traveling in the wrong direction.
Have you or a loved one been injured in a wrong-way accident? If so, contact a car accident lawyer in Fort Worth from Anderson, Cummings & Drawhorn today to find out if you deserve compensation.
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