Every so often, you will hear about a wrong-way accident on the interstate. These accidents may not be as common as other types of car crashes, but they can be much more severe. Because of the high speeds that the vehicles are traveling at and the fact that it is a head-on collision, fatalities and significant injuries are much more common.
But you may find yourself wondering how this could even happen in the first place. People can only access the interstate through ramps, which are clearly marked so that someone will know which ramp to use to get on the interstate and which one to use to get off. There are wrong-way signs informing drivers if they make a mistake. Beyond that, even if a driver got all the way to the interstate, it should immediately be obvious to them that traffic is moving in the other direction.
Impairment issues
Well, the reason for these crashes is usually driver impairment. The driver may be under the influence of illegal drugs or they may have just had too much to drink. This impairment has made it so they are not thinking clearly or may not even be conscious of their decisions, leading them to take the wrong ramp and ignore the wrong-way signs.
Moreover, many of these accidents happen at night, after people have spent a long time at a bar or a club. So they may not be immediately tipped off by traffic moving in the wrong direction if there isn’t much traffic on the interstate to begin with. They may only realize the mistake that they’ve made when they are about to cause a serious car accident.
Unfortunately, these accidents injure innocent drivers who haven’t made any mistakes. Those who have been hurt or who have lost loved ones need to know how to seek compensation.