Skip to main content

Rhode Island to install wrong-way driver warning system

Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is planning to invest US$2 million in a new system aimed at decreasing the number of wrong-way drivers on the state’s highways. According to Robert Rocchio, managing engineer of traffic and safety at RIDOT, the state sees a minimum of one fatal crash per year due to drivers going the wrong way on the state's major highways. RIDOT hopes to begin installing intelligent transportation systems on highway off-ramps at twenty different locations across the s
March 5, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is planning to invest US$2 million in a new system aimed at decreasing the number of wrong-way drivers on the state’s highways.

According to Robert Rocchio, managing engineer of traffic and safety at RIDOT, the state sees a minimum of one fatal crash per year due to drivers going the wrong way on the state's major highways.

RIDOT hopes to begin installing intelligent transportation systems on highway off-ramps at twenty different locations across the state as early as April.

The devices would be able to detect vehicles entering the highway on off-ramps, and would cause two wrong-way signs to flash in attempt to alert the driver to their error. If the driver continues past those signs, the state police would be notified.  Warnings will also be placed on overhead digital signs currently on the state’s highways.

In addition to the automated components, the US$2 million project will also include increased signage and markers on every off ramp in the state.

Related Content

  • Wireless traffic data in real time
    January 31, 2012
    The effect of moving objects on the electromagnetic landscape set up by cellular telephony networks can be detected and interpreted to give real-time traffic data across large geographical areas at low cost. Here, we revisit the Celldar concept. Global economic downturn has pushed public-sector agencies, transport administrations among them, to push even harder for cost efficiencies. Unfortunately, when it comes to transport safety and efficiency the public sector often has to work up to a cost rather than
  • ITS America maps out implications and opportunities for ITS industry
    November 28, 2012
    A critical milestone was reached in July 2012, when the US Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation reauthorising the nation's surface transportation programs, breaking a nearly three-year log-jam which had blocked critical transportation reforms and delayed much-needed infrastructure projects. In a town where compromise is sometimes considered an endangered species, Republicans and Democrats came together during a months-long series of negotiations and hashed out a bipartisan agreement that
  • Poll: Americans would pay more gas taxes to fund road projects
    June 12, 2014
    Two-thirds of Americans (68 per cent) believe the federal government should invest more than it does now on roads, bridges and mass transit systems, according to a new American Automobile Association (AAA) omnibus survey of 2,013 adults. Only five per cent of respondents believe the federal government should spend less on transportation. These results come as AAA urges members of Congress to increase the fuel tax, which will address significant transportation safety and congestion issues nationwide. The
  • Righter shade of pale
    July 24, 2012
    Jon Tarleton, Quixote Transportation Technologies, Inc., talks about developments in mobile weather information gathering Quixote Transportation Technologies, Inc. (QTT) is promoting the greater use of mobile technologies to provide infill between fixed Road Weather Information System (RWIS) infrastructure. It is, the company says, a means of reducing the expense of providing comprehensive, network-wide coverage, particularly in geographic locations where the sheer number of centreline miles causes cost to