By Gavin Jenkins, Senior Managing Editor
A driver takes a wrong turn on a one-way street. Sometimes they never realize. They zip down the road unaware. Other times they discover that they’ve made a mistake and think, “I’ll just hurry up.” They hit the gas and try to reach the next intersection as quickly as possible.
That’s how people die or get hurt. One might assume that wrong-way driving (WWD) incidents are rare. However, recent data paints a starkly different picture.
In 2022, Florida recorded 3,800 wrong-way driving crashes, leading to 128 fatalities.
“That number is mind-blowing,” said Sean Poole, president of IntelliRoad, a division of Kyra Solutions. “This is a problem across the country, not just here in the state of Florida.”
Wrong-way crashes are particularly dangerous because they often result in head-on collisions, which have an 81%.
Bryan Homayouni, P.E., director of ITS for the Central Florida Expressway Authority, said in an email that a fatal 2012 crash was a call to action.
“The victim’s family members from that crash came to a public meeting and asked us to solve this problem for the community,” he said. “From that day we have been striving to go above and beyond what our former standard practice was for mitigating wrong way driving. We started by engaging our academic community and teaming up with the University of Central Florida to understand and identify the depth of the problem. From there we quickly moved to technology applications to help mitigate and continue to understand the problem as it evolves.”
Wrong-way driving detection systems are designed to detect vehicles traveling in the wrong direction and provide real-time alerts to traffic management operators and motorists, improving roadway safety.
These systems use radar, LiDAR or cameras to detect vehicles moving in the wrong direction on a roadway.
Poole, who will be a guest on the Infrastructure Technology Podcast (ITP) on July 15, said wrong-way driving detection systems empower traffic management operators to “detect incidents in real-time.”
The ITP is Roads & Bridges’ audio collaboration with Mass Transit, our sister magazine at Endeavor Business Media, and on that July 15 episode, Poole explains how IntelliConnect, which is IntelliRoad’s flagship system, consolidates multiple roadway monitoring systems onto a single platform. This integration allows traffic management professionals to detect and respond to incidents.
“We have strategic partnerships with telecom companies with mapping companies and so we're able to push notifications directly out to motorists in hands free audio,” he said.
The system employs artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to automate incident detection and generate instant alerts. This streamlined process enables quick decision-making, ensuring that motorists receive timely warnings.
Traditional detection systems often struggle with accuracy, frequently misidentifying objects such as birds or maintenance vehicles as wrong-way drivers.
LIDAR-based detection, which significantly enhances precision, overcomes these challenges. By leveraging this cutting-edge technology, systems can achieve 100% detection accuracy while reducing false positives by more than 50%. This increased reliability ensures that emergency responders can act swiftly and efficiently, ultimately saving more lives.
“We have data to suggest that our detection technology and program are highly effective,” Homayouni said.
The adoption of this wrong-way driving detection system has undergone testing and approval processes. Kira Solutions has collaborated with the Florida Department of Transportation to implement the technology. Discussions are currently underway with agencies in over a dozen other states.
Wrong-way driving detection systems will likely raise concerns about privacy and data privacy. Poole said that Kira Solutions’ system does not collect or store identifiable information. Instead, it relies solely on location, speed and heading data to trigger alerts.
Haitham Al-Deek, Ph.D., P.E., professor of engineering at the University of Central Florida, said in an email that technology is one effective tool in reducing wrong-way driving crashes.
“Engineering, enforcement and education are all needed to best combat this issue,” Al-Deek said. “Effective and visible signage, pavement markings and design considerations can help support WWD countermeasures technologies to improve their impacts.”
Why these crashes happen varies from each incident and location: People driving under the influence, a driver with poor nighttime vision, a distracted driver, or someone who is simply confused.
Whatever the cause, implementing advanced detection systems could be a solution. This innovation is transforming how traffic incidents are detected and managed. As adoption expands, the goal remains clear: reducing crashes, saving lives and making roadways safer for everyone. RB
