Wrong-way driver system not ready prior to crash that killed 3

At the time Saturday of a wrong-way crash on U.S. Highway 95 that killed three people, the Nevada Department of Transportation was in the process of upgrading a system nearby to detect wrong-way drivers, a spokesman said.

The wrong-way driver detection device at the offramps at U.S. 95 and Durango Drive was being improved to be in sync with three other pending new systems on U.S. 95 and Interstate 15, according to NDOT public information officer Justin Hopkins, and was not implemented at the time of the crash.

NDOT had identified changes needed to prepare the devices for full-time use, Hopkins said.

“They are still in the testing and calibration phase,” he said. “Our teams are working with the RTC FAST (Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation) folks to finalize the calibration and testing and get a little up to speed.”

The systems should be turned on “within the next few weeks,” he added.

Nevada State Police are unsure about where the alleged wrong-way driver had entered the freeway, at the northbound U.S. 95 and Durango offramp or somewhere else, but the tragic collision is part of a trend, Hopkins said.

“Unfortunately, we have a problem in Southern Nevada with impaired driving and often that manifests itself with wrong-way driving,” he said.

The wreck involving three vehicles occurred Saturday afternoon when Antonia Marie Apton, 50, of Bullhead City, drove a 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser south on northbound U.S. 95, south of the Durango northbound off ramp and crashed into two other vehicles, state police said.

The PT Cruiser hit a 2022 GMC Acadia, driven by Karen Foote, 63, of Sparks, that was headed north and then rotated and struck a second vehicle behind the GMC, a 2014 Kia Soul. The PT Cruiser overturned, entered the left shoulder and hit two other parked vehicles.

Foote and Apton died at the scene, police said. Three-year-old Jada Brooks, of Las Vegas, a passenger in the Kia, died two days later at a hospital, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.

The unfinished wrong-way detectors are set up at offramps at Interstate 15 and Starr Avenue, U.S. 95 and Kyle Canyon Road and U.S. 95 and Skye Canyon Drive.

The one at U.S. 95 and Durango, installed in 2022 as part of an NDOT study program, is still being upgraded, Hopkins said.

When completed, the four systems, which cost $1.1 million and were funded by gas taxes, will be on the offramps on both sides of the freeways to detect when a vehicle is mistakenly entering, he said.

Each detector uses a series of radar signals that perceive a driver going the wrong way while entering a freeway exit ramp and then activates a number of flashing lights alerting the motorist to turn back, he said.

When the system is fully installed, information will be shared with law enforcement and fed to the traffic management center at the state police southern command in Las Vegas, Hopkins said.

NDOT performed a three-year study on the detection system and in 2022 had it placed in 37 locations in the state, mostly on Interstate 80 in Northern Nevada “and what we found (was) we had a really good success rate,” he said.

“We had about 85 percent confirmed turnarounds before people ever got to the freeway after they had activated this system,” Hopkins said.

The study included one active installation in Southern Nevada last year, the U.S. 95 and Durango device since turned off for the upgrade, he said.

The wrong-way detectors are part of a long-term strategy of using them to trip freeway message boards to warn motorists that a wrong-way driver is ahead in real time, Hopkins said.

NDOT reported that nationwide about 360 people die each year on average in wrong-way driver crashes and more than half of the crashes involve wrong-way drivers impaired by alcohol.

In Nevada, from 2014 to 2018, 135 wrong-way crashes resulted in 22 fatalities, according to NDOT’s website.

“Nevada is one of a handful of state DOTs testing the wrong-way driver detection systems,” the department stated.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow @JeffBurbank2 on X.