Tragic Wrong-Way Collision on Interstate 70 Kills One

RILEY COUNTY, KS- The salinapost.com writes that a man died in a wrong-way collision in Riley County this week. The incident took place on Interstate 70 in the late evening. Reports indicate that a 2011 Kia Soul was traveling the wrong direction in the westbound lanes.*

As the Kia reached a hill in the road, a semi-truck heading the correct direction struck the vehicle head-on. The driver of the Kia, identified as a 72-year-old man from Topeka, died at the scene of the wreck. The other driver, a 30-year-old man from Wichita traveling in a 2020 International truck, was not injured. Police stated that the victim was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the collision. 

Head-on collisions have a high rate of fatalities. Wrong-way collisions are typically head-on crashes that occur on divided highways. These incidents are less common than head-on collisions on undivided roads because while its fairly easy to drift over a centerline, entering a divided highway traveling in the wrong direction is a much more significant mistake to make. Drivers who travel the wrong way on these roads typically have ignored multiple warning signs. 

While drivers do not often make this mistake, when they do, there is a significant chance of deadly results. The vehicles on these roads are traveling at high rates of speed, meaning the crashes will often involve major impacts. About 300 to 400 people are killed in these collisions each year. Drivers who cause wrong-way crashes are often impaired by alcohol or another substance, which explains their failure to notice redundant signs and warnings posted to avoid these types of wrecks. 

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Sources:https://salinapost.com/posts/5e34093f7d7daa72b30ec24f and https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/other_topics/wwd/ and https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/feb/10/wrong-direction-driving-often-fatal/