In recent years, there has been an interesting rise in serious wrong-way driving crashes. These are accidents in which one vehicle is going the wrong direction down a one-way street. This is usually found on the interstate, although it can sometimes happen on smaller city streets.
Whenever there’s an accident, it almost always means that a person made a mistake. But most of those mistakes happen quickly. For instance, someone gets distracted by their phone for a few seconds and their car drifts across the center line.
But a wrong-way accident on the interstate takes much longer to occur. The driver has to pass numerous signs telling them they are going in the wrong direction, and so this is a mistake that they may be making for a few minutes before the crash, rather than a few seconds. Why do people make these mistakes?
They are usually impaired
In some cases, you do have drivers who get distracted or suffer from some sort of confusion or cognitive issue. But the most common reason for these accidents is impairment. This explains why they can happen even though they take so long. A driver who is significantly impaired may not realize that they’re making such a critical error, even though they are passing warning signs and making numerous driving mistakes before the actual crash occurs.
Unfortunately, this means that it is a risk that you always have to face. Even if you would not allow yourself to be so impaired, you can’t guarantee that the drivers around you will not be. If you get injured in a wrong-way accident, then you need to know how to seek compensation