Road designers urged to tackle spike in wrong-way driving

The call comes after data revealed a 30% rise in wrong-way driving incidents on motorways, 947 reports of vehicles travelling against traffic in the 12 months to May 11 in England. This figure marks an increase from 729 four years earlier, according to statistics from National Highways. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "To think anyone could drive the wrong way onto a motorway heading into fast-moving traffic is truly the stuff of nightmares.

"The fact that nearly 1,000 drivers did just that in the last twelve months both chills the blood and makes the case for demanding our highway engineers up their game to prevent drivers mistaking the off-ramp for a slip road. "Whether the answer lies in re-configuring junctions or in technology - slip-road sensors that trigger roadside warnings or in-vehicle alerts - there's clearly work to be done to establish what's going wrong and to fix it." Mr Gooding described such incidents as "truly the stuff of nightmares."

On April 17, two men died in a head-on collision on the M90 near Kinross, Perth and Kinross, after one vehicle was driven in the wrong direction. Last October, a man in his 50s died on the M6 near Charnock Richard services in Lancashire after crashing while driving the wrong way. The collision left two men in their 40s seriously injured.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said many incidents stem from "driver impairment," including drink, drugs, and fatigue. He said such crashes often happen at night and in poor weather when drivers are confused or "blindly following their sat nav." Mr King said: "Many people assume tourists from other countries who drive on the right are the main cause but more often the culprits are impaired local drivers.

"In rare, and sometimes fatal cases, drivers trying to avoid the police take a deliberate decision to go the wrong way." He called for additional investment in technology to deliver warnings both inside vehicles and on roadsides. A spokesman for National Highways said: "Safety is our top priority, which is why every report of an oncoming vehicle triggers an immediate response to protect road users.

"This can include using roadside signals to warn drivers and reducing speed limits where necessary. "These figures should be treated with caution as they may include unconfirmed reports received by our operations centres. "Confirmed incidents of wrong-way driving on motorways remain rare.

"Every report is treated seriously and acted on quickly." Recommended Reading Mr King stressed that while some blame tourists, most wrong-way drivers are locals.

He also warned that "in rare, and sometimes fatal cases," some individuals intentionally drive the wrong way to evade police. Calls are growing for improved motorway design and the introduction of targeted technology, such as slip-road sensors and in-vehicle alerts, to prevent wrong-way incidents and save lives. The RAC Foundation is urging authorities to reconsider how junctions are designed.

They also recommend developing technological solutions to reduce the likelihood of these dangerous and often deadly mistakes.