Rhode Island installing wrong-way driver signing

Rhode Island Department of Transport (RIDOT) is undertaking a US$2 million project to upgrade the signing and striping at 145 locations, more than 200 actual ramps, and install detection systems at 24 high-risk areas. The systems not only alert a driver who travelling in the wrong direction, they notify police and other motorists of a potential wrong-way driver. At the two dozen high-risk areas, most in the Providence metropolitan area, new detection systems will sense if a driver has entered a highway o
November 21, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
1699 Rhode Island Department of Transport (RIDOT) is undertaking a US$2 million project to upgrade the signing and striping at 145 locations, more than 200 actual ramps, and install detection systems at 24 high-risk areas. The systems not only alert a driver who travelling in the wrong direction, they notify police and other motorists of a potential wrong-way driver.

At the two dozen high-risk areas, most in the Providence metropolitan area, new detection systems will sense if a driver has entered a highway off-ramp, and activate a series of flashing signs. It will also notify the Rhode Island State Police that someone is driving the wrong way on the road, take a picture of the vehicle, and display a message on overhead signs to warn drivers heading in the opposite direction.

Work has been ongoing since late summer 2014 and will continue through early 2015. All of Rhode Island's limited access highways were targeted for improved signage and pavement markings to clearly distinguish exit ramps from entrance ramps and prevent confusion.

Officials say that while incidents resulting from wrong-way driving make up a small percentage of the overall crashes that take place on the state’s highways, they are far more likely to result in fatalities. RIDOT, which has witnessed nine deaths in the last six years, is working aggressively to add safety features to reduce the occurrence of wrong-day driving. It says alcohol impairment is a leading factor for wrong-way crashes, and most happen on weekends and during evening and overnight hours.

The plan is modelled on a similar project in San Antonio, Texas, where 29 flashing signs were installed along a major highway. Within a year, a 30 per cent reduction in wrong-way driving incidents was reported.
Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Classification & Data Collection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bristol’s buses trial CycleEye detection system
    July 7, 2017
    Fusion Processing’s Jim Hutchinson looks at a two-year trial of the company’s cyclist detection system. Is cycling in a city dangerous? Well, that depends where you are and how you view statistics. Malmö is far more bike-friendly than Mumbai and the risk can either be perceived as small - one death per 29 million miles cycled in the UK in 2013 - or large - that equated to 109 deaths in the same year. Whatever your personal take on the data, the effect of these accidents can be felt indirectly too. News of c
    Read More
  • Hard shoulder running aids uniform traffic flow and safer driving
    January 23, 2012
    David Crawford detects a market for European experience. Well-established now in at least three European countries, Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) on motorways is exciting growing interest in the US. A November 2010 Report to Congress by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), on the Efficient Use of Highway Capacity, notes the role of HSR in the European-style Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies now being recommended for implementation in the US where, until recently, they were virtually unknown.
    Read More
  • Mexico’s Durango-Mazatlan highway sets tunnel safety standard
    September 14, 2016
    Mauro Nogarin looks at the management of the longer tunnels on Mexico’s Durango-Mazatlan highway. In recent years the National Infrastructure Fund of Mexico has increased investment in the installation of ITS systems on selected highways to increase road safety. One such major investment is the 230km long Durango-Mazatlan highway which is 12m in width and has an average speed of 110km/h.
    Read More
  • Dynamic Message Signs : Don’t replace, refurbish and upgrade
    August 12, 2015
    Refurbishing old dynamic message signs can save money and increase technical capabilities as David Crawford discovers. Evidence is growing on both sides of the Atlantic of the scope for retrofitting old or technically out-of-date dynamic message signs (DMS) with new electronic equipment, to save on the costs of installing full-scale replacements. In the last four months of 2014, a number of US states progressed programmes that achieved savings of more than US$1.75 million (€1.56million).
    Read More

Highlighted Content