San Diego Implements Wrong-Way Driving Tech to Save Lives

            Western Systems and Caltrans have partnered to create a state-of-the-art wrong-way driving system to stop fatal crashes.

San Diego, CA (April 12th) — Western Systems, a leader in the traffic management industry, recently partnered with Caltrans District 11 to address wrong-way driving at two critical freeway onramps.

” Wrong-way driving situations can be very dangerous as they often involve impaired drivers and high speeds,” Zach Hoiting, Senior Vice President, Western Systems. “Working together with Caltrans, we built an innovative system using the latest advancements in technology to create a safer community and save lives. It brings us so much pride to know that we can help be a part of the wrong way driving solution for San Diego.”

The system is built on four main components, detection, warnings, alarms and notifications. LiDAR detection is the system’s foundation and is used to create zones that activate wrong-way driving countermeasures.

When a vehicle enters the first zone, the system activates bright LED flashing lights and a loud alarm to alert the driver. If the driver continues, the second set of LED flashing lights is turned on with a loud “Wrong Way Turn Back” message. Both Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) will be notified of the wrong-way driver situation and will have access to a live video feed.

This innovative system is built for today’s technology while incorporating future Connected Vehicle advancements. As Connected Vehicle infrastructure expands and gains adoption, drivers using Onboard Units (OBUs) will have the ability to receive notifications that a wrong-way driver is approaching them.

Western Systems and Caltrans will continue to monitor this pilot program for the next year with the possibility of adding more systems in the future.