BOSTON (WHDH) - A car dealership surveillance camera caught a Jeep traveling south on Route 1 northbound early Wednesday morning, which resulted in a head-on collision that killed Trooper Kevin Trainor.
Colonel Geoffrey Noble of the Massachusetts State Police addressed wrong-way crashes after Trooper Trainor’s death.
The problem is getting worse. AAA compiled a decade’s worth of nationwide statistics from 2014 to 2025.
“Fatal wrong-way crashes are on divided highways, that’s highways with dividers between lanes,” Mark Schieldrop said of AAA Northeast. “[They] doubled over that period, and it’s an alarming increase.”
Massachusetts is trying out new technology that will alert confused or impaired drivers that they are headed into a danger zone.
They’re testing out solar-powered wrong-way driver detection devices that Mass DOT installed at 10 locations across the state. First, drivers will see warning lights in hopes they will self-correct. If not, the police will be notified.
The state says the devices detected 66 wrong-way driving attempts last year, down from 88 in 2024 and 96 in 2023.
The Wisconsin company that sells them says they work.
“We’re definitely mindful that intoxication and inebriated drivers are the leading factor in wrong-way driving,” Alex Perry said, a spokesperson for Tapco Wrong-Way Tech.
The wrong-way alert system can detect wrong-way vehicles and alert drivers in real time using a variety of configurations. AAA hopes states will install more warning devices, and Mass DOT is looking at possibly expanding the program.
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