Thermal traffic cameras help troopers nab wrong-way Phoenix driver

Rejiggered Phoenix-area traffic cameras captured two wrong-way drivers in a 24-hour span this weekend, reinforcing frustrations about inebriated motorists and boosting the allure of the state's in-progress, multimillion-dollar wrong-way-driver alert system.

An existing, recently modified Arizona Department of Transportation thermal camera — like those used for traffic-signal sequencing — detected a wrong-way vehicle at 3:17 a.m. Sunday entering Loop 101 on the 75th Avenue off-ramp.

The camera triggered an alert to the agency's traffic operations center, and a Department of Public Safety trooper there observed the vehicle traveling south in the northbound lanes of Loop 101 near Union Hills Drive, about a mile away.

The trooper at the operations center then directed patrol troopers to the area, where they found the vehicle still traveling the wrong way near Bell Road. The team also lit up overhead messaging boards warning motorists of potential oncoming danger.

Troopers found the wrong-way Toyota Camry, pulled over the 56-year-old man behind the wheel, and arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence, DPS told The Arizona Republic Tuesday.

"Their immediate coordination and direction to patrol troopers saved time and, more importantly, lives," DPS officials said in a statement lauding the coordination between the traffic operations team and troopers on the ground.

The wrong-way motorist didn't cause a crash the way dozens of others have this year, the latest of which injured seven people last week. But it was among the first instances where a recently retrofitted camera alerted controllers who then scrambled DPS troopers to the scene.

"Sunday’s incident was the first I’ve seen where one of these cameras helped hasten the DPS response and bring the vehicle to a stop without incident," said Doug Nintzel, ADOT spokesman. "As we’ve said many times, our goal is to reduce the risk of a crash, even though technology can’t prevent all wrong-way crashes."

One of the 11 cameras with the added technology picked up another wrong-way driver 24 hours later, when a vehicle driving west in the eastbound lanes of Bell Road made a wrong-way turn onto Loop 101. The driver turned around at the top of the ramp and returned to Bell Road. Troopers in that case, though, were unable to locate the vehicle.

The cameras used in those two incidents are among a select group of devices that were modified this summer in the effort to detect wrong-way vehicles.

They are not part of the larger, long-awaited and highly publicized wrong-way-driver detection system being installed along a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 17 in Phoenix.

"The individual cameras getting the attention this week are set up to alert us, but without the major components of the I-17 pilot," Nintzel said. "They are no doubt valuable countermeasures too, as we saw this weekend."

With a cost of roughly $3.7 million, that more comprehensive system uses new thermal cameras to detect a wrong-way vehicle driving at off-ramps. That automatically triggers a wrong-way sign that will light up and flash in an effort to grab the attention of the impaired, distracted or confused driver. A notice also will appear on overhead message boards alerting freeway motorists that someone might be coming their way.

The largely automated system, among the first in the country, is designed to immediately alert ADOT and DPS faster than the current way, which is dependent on 911 calls from other drivers.

The complete program is slated to be fully operational by early next year.

There were 245 wrong-way crashes tallied on Arizona divided highways from 2004 to 2014, according to a sweeping state report assessing the scope of the problem. Those wrecks resulted in 91 fatalities, and 65 percent of wrong-way drivers were found to have been impaired — on par with the national average for impairment among wrong-way drivers.

That report, the result of a series of high-profile crashes, spurred efforts to get a handle on what was driving the issue in the first place: impairment.

DPS troopers arrested two additional wrong-way motorists during the weekend, each on suspicion of DUI, further demonstrating that it's a problem without an easily attainable solution.

"We can't arrest our way out of impaired drivers," wrote DPS Director Frank Milstead, in a statement Tuesday on Twitter.

" This is a social issue..."

Jason Pohl covers public safety for The Republic. Follow him on Twitter: @pohl_jason.

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