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

  • August 21, 2014
    Ken Leonard talks to ITS International
    Ken Leonard, director of the USDOT’s ITS Joint Program office made time in his schedule during the Helsinki Congress to speak to ITS International. It has been 18 months since Ken Leonard took over as the director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation. With 30 years of technical experience behind him, to say he is enjoying the challenge would be to put it mildly: “It is incredibly exciting to be working in intelligent transportation systems, th
  • September 19, 2017
    European tunnel safety steps up a gear
    David Crawford reviews the latest safety systems installed in European tunnels. Blueprints for the safer road tunnels of the future are emerging fast as European operators invest in technologies to enhance travellers’ prospects of surviving an accident. Central to modern emergency planning is the principle that, following an incident, drivers should be enabled to rescue themselves and their passengers with the aid of prompt and correct identification and communication of the hazard. Roles for cooperativ
  • December 19, 2022
    Traffic cameras embrace AI
    Artificial intelligence is spreading into many aspects of mobility – but what about traffic management and enforcement cameras? ITS International invited a few vision experts to ponder a couple of leading questions…
  • June 5, 2020
    Panasonic gets connected on The Ray
    A stretch of rural Georgia highway called The Ray is a particularly useful testbed for V2X technology. Panasonic’s Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill what’s so special about it