Connecticut

State focuses on wrong-way driving ahead of Thanksgiving holiday

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Thanksgiving travel is about to ramp up. AAA is projecting more than 800,000 people from Connecticut will go somewhere for the holiday. Of those travelers, almost 90 percent will be driving to their destinations.

This has the state thinking about our roads, particularly wrong-way driving.

Governor Ned Lamont and the state Department of Transportation plan on making an announcement about wrong-way driving on Monday.

Josh Morgan with CT DOT says it happens almost every weekend, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. He says the state's highway operation centers are constantly getting notifications that there are wrong-way drivers.

In Connecticut, more than a dozen people have been killed in wrong-way crashes this year alone.

The state is trying to prevent these types of crashes with the use of wrong-way detection systems. They have about 110 installed now and they are confident that they will have 125 by the end of the year.

Morgan says the technology is working and a majority of drivers are getting turned around by the systems before they get to the highway. Then state police arrives in a matter of minutes when they're activated. While they are helping, he says they aren't perfect.

"Sometimes the driver will be allegedly impaired and continue on the highway despite the system lights flashing," Morgan said.

According to Morgan, impairment is the leading reason for wrong-way crashes.

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