Another Austin Wrong Way Driving Wreck

For the second time in less than a month, Austin has experienced a traffic fatality from a driver driving the wrong way on a highway.  Early Saturday morning, a woman in her twenties was killed as she was driving the wrong way in the northbound lanes of the I35 lower deck.  The wrong-way driver hit two other vehicles and was killed after her car caught fire.  Amazingly, the  occupants of the other two vehicles appear to not have been seriously injured at this time.

The wreck fits the pattern of wrong-way collisions.  These wrong-way wrecks typically involve young drivers, occur late at night/early in the morning, and alcohol is often involved (though I am only speculating about alcohol use in this latest wreck).

The Saturday morning wreck follows an earlier wreck this month when a driver was driving the wrong way on the 45 toll road.

I hope to hear more about the investigation and how the driver managed to enter I35.  Wrong-way wrecks are a nationwide problem, but the best way to manage them seems to be proper design and engineering of on and off ramps.

For more information on wrong way wrecks, you can read these posts:

• Another Wrong Way Driving Death In Austin
• More On Wrong Way Drivers