Why wrong-way drivers often end up in the fast lane
Feb 23, 2017, 5:38 AM | Updated: 9:49 am
As an anchor of a morning TV news show, Michelle Millman is on the road quite early to get to work at KIRO 7. It was around 2:30 a.m. Monday when she noticed something wasn’t quite right on southbound I-405.
Chokepoints: I-405 toll lanes are likely here to stay
Headlights were coming at her, and not in the northbound lanes. They were coming directly at her in the southbound lanes as she faced down a wrong-way driver.
“I was worried as I was getting over to the left, ‘please don’t swerve, please don’t swerve,'” Millman recalled. “I was hoping that driver, who was maybe impaired or confused, I don’t know, but I was hoping they wouldn’t swerve and come across all lanes. Then what do I do?”
Related: Eastside growth is impacting commute times around Seattle
The driver was in the far right lane, Millman moved to the left. The two passed without any issues. She then called 911 and continued on her way to work.
Left lanes and the wrong way
It got me thinking about something a police officer once told me about wrong-way drivers. Unlike this driver who approached Millman in the far right lane, most wrong-way drivers, especially at night, will be in the far left lane — the fast lane for the proper direction of traffic. But to the wrong-way driver, it appears to be the slow lane.
“They are going to be — most likely — in what they think is the slow lane, which is really the fast lane,” State Trooper Rick Johnson explained. “When my boys started driving, I told them — especially at night — ‘stay out of the left lanes.'”
“I had a trooper coming over south from I-90, six or eight months ago and he saw headlights come at him and he was in the far left lane,” Johnson said. “Luckily, this person wasn’t coming fast and stopped before they tangled up. And they were extremely impaired.”
A few months ago, an impaired driver hit an ambulance on southbound I-5 near Michigan St. This happened in the left lane.
This is not scientific and is based on his 25 years on the road as a trooper, but Johnson believes that impaired, wrong-way drivers are trying to fly under the radar by driving in what they think is the slow lane.
The lesson in all of this, especially for those of you who drive late nights or early mornings, comes from Millman.
“It is so important to always be aware of what’s around you, who is there, what’s going on and to be a truly defensive driver,” Millman said.
Johnson says there were 349 reports of wrong-way drivers in King County freeways last year. There were three fatal crashes and three non-injury crashes that they can attribute to wrong-way driving.
Tell Chris about a Chokepoint or ask a traffic question @kirortraffic via Twitter.
