Among wrong way drivers, 61% account for people who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident. The most common type of wrong-way driving takes place when a motorist gets on the wrong freeway entrance ramp. The majority of these crashes take place between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m., with a majority occurring at about 2 a.m., right when bars close. One woman is speaking out about drunk driving and wrong way drivers in the hopes that something can be done to alert people they are going the wrong way, KTLA reports.
Ottawa Cureton, a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy, is speaking out after the death of her son.
Anthony Thompson, 24, was driving a Dodge Challenger on November 19th along the 605 Freeway in Baldwin Park. This is when a minivan that was driving the wrong way slammed into him head-on. Thompson was killed and a female passenger suffered serious injuries. The driver of the minivan was also killed in the accident.
The other driver was a female believed to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and the investigation into substances involved is still ongoing.
The accident happened the same morning as another wrong-way accident that killed the wrong-way driver and the passenger in his car. The two women in the other vehicle were seriously injured as well.
Cureton made a statement, “To Congress, to our president, Mr. Trump, that I highly encourage that we get some type of strips that will be installed on the freeways,” she said. “That we’ll alert or detect someone who’s entering the freeway [on the wrong side].”
Thompson was working as a custody assistant on his way to becoming a sheriff’s deputy at the time of the accident.
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