According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, approximately 360 lives are lost each year in wrong-way collisions. Due to the speeds that are generally involved, the head-on nature of most wrong-way collisions, these kinds of collisions can be the most serious that occur. After reviewing statistics from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the NHTSA revealed that of the 1,566 wrong-way drivers, 1,111 had alcohol in their system. 684 drivers had what was considered to be extremely high blood-alcohol levels at above 0.15%. Only 29% of wrong-way accidents involved drivers who were not under the influence.
NBC Miami reports that a police car was involved in a crash on Don Shula Expressway in Miami-Dade County. The crash occurred on Friday and involved a Volkswagen sedan and a marked Miami-Dade police car and a Jeep Renegade.
The Volkswagen sedan was heading the wrong way in the southbound lanes of the Don Shula Expressway. It crashed head-on into a marked Miami-Dade police vehicle. The Volkswagen then ricocheted into a white Jeep Renegade.
The driver of the Volkswagen was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The officer in the police vehicle and two people from the Jeep were taken to the hospital. Their condition was reported as stable.
The crash shut down all lanes of the expressway.