Photo: Shari Small/ WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — MassDOT officials provided an update Monday on its statewide deployment of wrong-way driving prevention systems, a day after a wrong-way driving crash claimed the life of a North Shore teenager.
Officials said they were ahead of schedule with planned installations and deployment of its systems. The detection systems have been installed at nearly 90 interchanges across the state, with 40 more said to be operational by the end of the year.
"Since the detection systems were first installed in June, there's been more than 215 verified wrong-way driver events reported by those systems with approximately 140 drivers self-correcting," MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said at the press conference.
The system alerts wrong-way drivers with flashing red lights on wrong-way signs. Cameras capture the scene, and officers are notified when a driver enters the ram going the wrong way.
Gulliver said its next phase will alert other drivers about oncoming wrong-way drivers.
"Just this weekend, our troopers responded to three separate reports of wrong-way operators," Massachusetts State Police Lt. Col. Brendhan Shugrue said. "One of those incidents resulted in a fatal head-on collision that claimed the life of a high school senior."
The teenager killed — who authorities have not yet identified — was a student at Triton Regional High School in Newbury.
Authorities said the 17-year-old was driving the wrong way before his car collided with another on Route 1 in Revere early Sunday, Oct. 25. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to an AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study published in March, 2,830 people died in wrong-way crashes between 2020 to 2023.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports.
