By the time Gov. Maura Healey and other officials had assembled outside the Danvers State Police barracks Wednesday morning to announce stepped-up efforts to stop wrong-way driving, they’d already seen the new systems put to use.
“This morning on the way up, I got word from MassDOT and the State Police that one of these very new technologies that we implemented actually stopped a wrong-way driver on the road this morning,” Healey said. “So already, we know this technology matters and it means something.”
A series of tragic wrong-way crashes — including one last month that killed State Trooper Kevin Trainor, who was assigned to the Danvers barracks — prompted Massachusetts to launch a new program to detect and prevent wrong-way driving. The state Department of Transportation, Healey said, “has been looking at every single point in the commonwealth where a driver could get going the wrong way.”
At those spots, she said, the state is rolling out a range of strategies like updating pavement markings, improving ramp designs, adding signage with flashing lights and installing new sensors and cameras.
MassDOT’s Jonathan Gulliver said that the state will ultimately spend up to $75 million on safety upgrades at more than 400 locations.
One of those spots is in Danvers, down the street from the State Police barracks. That’s where Gulliver said the wrong-way driver that Healey mentioned was detected by a system that had been activated Tuesday night.
“That system worked exactly as it should,” Gulliver said. “The driver was alerted that they were going the wrong way, and they turned themselves around without incident.”
State police have responded to 680 reports of wrong-way driving across Massachusetts in the last two years, said Colonel Geoffrey Noble, the department’s superintendent. He said Danvers is one of the top 10 communities where troopers have responded.
“Every one of these incidents represents a potential tragedy, and they could have been prevented if someone chose not to drive impaired or paid attention to roadway signs or put away distractions and focused on the road,” Noble said.
Last month, state senators wrote language into their version of the next state budget that calls for Massachusetts to develop a “comprehensive protocol” to prevent wrong-way driving, including new training for police officers and a study on improving roadway safety for drivers over age 70.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said he crafted that budget amendment after a teenager from his city, Chris Dailey, died from a crash with a wrong-way driver last summer. A team of House and Senate negotiators will decide if the proposal makes it into the final draft of the budget.
Tarr said Wednesday that passing that language would underscore the state’s commitment to preventing wrong-way driving.
“We know that it’s impossible to say that we can absolutely prevent incidents of wrong-way driving,” he said. “But we also know that there are a tremendous number of things that we can do that will reduce the odds of another tragedy on the roads of Massachusetts.”
