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Wrong Way Crashes

Wrong way crashes have been an issue that motorists have heard way too often this year

in Tampa Bay. It seems as though there is a reported case of wrong way driving every other

week, mostly on I-275, this year. “We don’t know how to explain the rash of wrong way

crashes,” Florida Highway Department of Transportation District 7 Public Information Director

Kris Carson said. “Things are getting better with the economy and maybe they are spending that

on partying, we really don’t know why the sudden increase,” District Safety and Special Projects

Engineer Peter Hsu said. “I’ve tried to talk to the arrested drivers and ask them, ‘has anything

happened to them to make them suddenly do this’? I need to go from an enforcement side to get

help on that,” Hsu said.

The issue for this area started becoming one after a Feb. 9th crash that killed 4 USF

students on I-275. A cell phone video was captured as the crash happened and it was the

beginning of what has been a troubling year for FDOT District 7( Tampa Bay). “This year this

region has the highest amount for all of Florida for wrong way crashes,” Hsu said. There was

also a crash in Downtown Tampa on August 15th that killed one person. Also, there was one on

October 26th that involved a man colliding with a police officer and was pulled over for being

twice the legal limit. “All of the arrests of fatal wrong way crashes have been all been related to

drugs or alcohol or both,” Hsu said.

“Wrong way crashes are not new, but what makes this year so unique is that there have

been fatal wrong way crashes this year in Tampa Bay, 11 deaths and 5 fatal crashes,” Florida

Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. “That’s why the focus has been on Tampa Bay, because

of the fatal,” Gaskins said. With all of the construction going on across the major interstates, that

has not been an issue, according to Gaskins. “None of the fatal crashes have been because of the

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construction, the closest one would’ve been the crash on August 15th on Floribraska, there’s no

one place we can pinpoint all of these crashes,” Gaskins said.

Tampa Bay (FDOT District 7) recorded 27 total wrong way crashes from 2008-2014 with

63% being fatal or incapacitating crashes. 63% of these wrong way crashes happened on

Saturday on Sunday. Also, more than half have happened between the hours of 1:00- 4:00 a.m.

Ironcially, the Central Office for the Florida Department of Transportation requested all of the

districts to conduct WWD (Wrong Way Driving) inventory on February 3rd of this year, just six

days before the first fatal crash in the Tampa Bay area. District 7 is higher than the national

average with 6% here over the national average of 3%, according to an NTSB report. The most

staggering figure is that of 20-29 year olds being involved in WWD crashes 52% in District 7

and 31% in the US.

A city that is similar in size and population is that of Charlotte, North Carolina which is

the same place our current U.S. Transportation Secretary, Anthony Foxx, was once a mayor. The

way that wrong way crashes are recorded in that city and Mecklenburg County are quite different

from those in Florida. “We measure by crossed centerline / going wrong way , our assumption is

that most crashes that are assigned that code are actually the result of a vehicle crossing the

centerline on a street with no median as opposed to truly driving the wrong way,” Traffic Safety,

ITS & Special Projects Section Manager CDOT Engineering & Operations Angela Berry said.

“Our opinion is that wrong way crashes have not been a major issue on city streets.” Berry said.

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division of Highways, the

numbers they have come from January to 2000 to the end of 2012 that survey all of Mecklenburg

County and show only 5 fatal crashes out of 41 total crashes. Two fatal crashes were reported in

wrong way crashes within the city limits of Charlotte over that time frame.

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With two cities that are comparable in size and population, how does Tampa Bay get

things get under control? Resources and the community. “It’s all about all of these groups

coming togeher to try and curb this issue, a little bit,” Carson said. With the sudden rash of these

fatal wrong way crashes, FDOT and FHP have taken measures into their own hands partnering

with CUTR on the issue of how to prevent these crashes from happening. “We are working with

FDOT District 7 and have been working with FDOT for a couple of months on a device to

prevent the wrong way driving by “waking up” wrong way drivers, the Rectangular Rapid

Flashing Beacon, or (RRFB), and if the evaluation is successful then that device will be

implemented,” Center for Urban Transportation and Research Program Director for Traffic

Operation and Safety, Dr. Pei-Sung Lin said. “We are trying it out on Fowler Ave. and then

moving to the ramps on Fletcher and Bearss Ave.” Lin said. “This goes beyond the minimum of

Do Not Enter and Wrong Way Signs that are required by federal law,” Lin said.

According to FDOT, if the CUTR study is successful, this would ultimately lead to the

RRFBs at 80 intersections across Tampa Bay costing about $8,000 per unit. “It’ll be FDOT

covering these costs, these engineering improvements will be DOT, which comes out of our

budget,” Carson said.

“There are two approaches to combat this problem, one is to avoid confusion of the

signage for the drivers and another is to reduce the number of drunk drivers,” Lin said. “These

are people that are extremely intoxicated and making poor, criminal decisions to go on the roads

the wrong way,” Gaskins said.

This issue, again, takes groups of people coming together to combat this issue here in this

area. FHP has had STEP UP Enforcement weekends bringing in DUI Enforcement to the area

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and that means bringing in officers from outside of the area to come in to the area for the

weekend, which means per diem, hotels, overtime pay, all of these extra costs to combat this

issue. Carson said this all comes down to the three E’s: Engineering-FDOT, Education, and

Enforcement-FHP. The education aspect has come from Tampa Alcohol Coalition, Ellen

Snelling, who has been volunteering her own time to bring about this issue. “We have worked

with the local schools and have had testimonials come and talk to those students and how their

decisions have changed their life,” Snelling said. “John Templeton 10 years ago was a suspect in

a wrong way crash and killed a woman and he holds her picture everyday with him,” Snelling

said. Snelling believes that bars should partner with Responsible Beverage Training to ensure

motorists do not go out on the roads impaired, to call Alert Cab to get these patrons home safely.

Snelling also believes that “we can’t be getting more police, we can’t be too strict.”

In the end, it all comes down to people and knowing their limitations and to use better

judgment. “We can go and do engineering efforts, we can put up guardrail, we can put more

signs, we need personal responsibility from people, we can’t stop you from having another drink

at the bar, we need the personal responsibility of the community,” Carson said.

NOTE: I reached out to John Templeton and he declined to interview.

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This is the District 7 SunGuide (TBSG) for FDOT that looks at all of the interstates throughout Tampa Bay.