CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- North Carolina State Highway Patrol says 2018 is off to a bad start when it comes to deaths caused by wrong-way drivers.
Already this year -- in Mecklenburg County alone – four people have died as the result of drivers heading the wrong-way down I-485. There were only two deaths for all of last year.
The first wreck happened Saturday, January 13. State troopers say just before 7 p.m. the driver of a van headed the wrong way down I-485 near West Blvd. Troopers say the wrong-way driver swiped two vehicles but continued driving until colliding head-on with another car.
The drivers of both cars died.
Then on Saturday, January 27 around 4 a.m., another deadly wrong-way crash near the very same spot on I-485. State troopers say 27-year-old Jeremiah Bellard was driving the wrong way down 485 near West Blvd when he struck another car head on, killing the driver, 68-year-old Jose Carpio.
Troopers say Carpio was on his way to work at the airport when his car was struck by Bellard. State troopers believe alcohol may have played a factor, but are awaiting toxicology reports.
To help put the breaks on wrong-way driving, the North Carolina Department of Transportation recently deployed technology in Raleigh on N.C. 540 toll road in western Wake County as part of a pilot program. Officials are hoping the program will provide a better way to stop wrong-way drivers.
"The only way we can detect a wrong-way driver is for it to be reported first by another driver, which is extremely difficult because of the speed and the time, or to catch it on our video cameras, which are limited in their location, and then how fast we can detect it," NCDOT Secretary James Trogdon told NBC Charlotte's sister station, WRAL.
NCDOT says the pilot program will use both cameras mounted on toll gantries and chips built into the roads to monitor and alert wrong-way drivers before a crash. Sixteen large signs will also be linked along the highway and will light up and flash when cameras detect a driver going the wrong way. North Carolina Turnpike Authority staff also will monitor the cameras and be notified instantly via a pop-up message and email.
Authorities want to collect enough data to determine whether the system should be put on other highways across the state.
State troopers in our area say they’ll support any technology that can help save lives. But regardless of new technology or not, it still comes down to the person behind the wheel.
“The majority of these are coming back with some type of impairing substance in their blood and it’s up to the driver to be a responsible driver,” said Trooper Ray Pierce.
Trooper Pierce said even with new technology and real-time alerts, there are over 200 miles of interstate in Mecklenburg County and the chance of a trooper being close will come down to happenstance.
“There are more miles of interstate than there are troopers in this county and unfortunately, we can’t have a trooper on every mile of interstate,” he said, reiterating that drivers need to be responsible.
“We were able to stop four drivers last year that were traveling the wrong way and all four ended up being impaired,” he said.