Driving in the wrong direction happens more frequently than many people may realise, and can have devastating consequences. Data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety show that there were more than 2,000 deaths from wrong-way driving crashes on US highways between 2015 and 2018. Wrong-way driving usually occurs when a vehicle enters the highway using an exit ramp and can stem from many different causes: driver distraction, intoxication, road detours, poorly designed highway interchanges, a lack of clear signage, etc.
The fallout can be severe. Because these incidents often result in a head-on collision at highway speeds, they are many times more likely to result in a fatality. They may also cause highway to be shut down for hours at a time, impacting local economies.
“It is a very serious problem,” says Jerone Floor, Vice President of Products and Solutions for 3D computer vision specialist Seoul Robotics. The company is pioneering a new take on wrong-way detection (WWD). With sensors mounted on road infrastructure, its system can detect wrong-way vehicles and issue alerts to the driver and the authorities.
