“You’re going the wrong way!”
This was the memorable line shouted to Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy) by a couple trying to get their attention in the classic film, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” as they mistakenly drove the wrong way along the freeway.
On Tuesday, a white GMC pickup truck travelled almost 13 km in the wrong direction on State Road 528 in Florida, causing other vehicles off the road or to swerve into other collisions.
Three other drivers got into two crashes as they tried to avoid the pickup truck.
Despite a number of incidences caused by the wrong way truck, fortunately there were no injuries reported and the 78-year-old driver of the pickup truck was eventually stopped by Florida Highway Patrol troopers.
Arnold Whigham of Orlando was not arrested, but had his driver’s licence “recommended for re-examination” according to a WESH report.
An investigation is underway into how he initially went the wrong direction.
Expressway authorities in Florida have had so many cases of wrong way drivers that they’ve implemented a highway traffic sign system that could alert drivers of their error. Other drivers and law enforcement are also warned in such a case.
In 2015, Florida Highway patrol reported 130 cases of wrong-way driving over a period of just eight months.
While wrong-way crashes don’t typically make up a large portion of all collisions, they do often lead to fatal results.
In 2014, 59 people lost their lives in wrong way crashes while another 576 were injured according to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
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