The deputies reported having soreness after the improper with a person suspected of driving whereas intoxicated. The suspect refused medical remedy.
HOUSTON — Two Harris County deputies have been concerned in a head-on wreck with a wrong-way driver on the east facet of city. All three walked away from the crash with solely bumps and bruises.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez recognized the deputies concerned as Deputies Ayala and Blair. The sheriff added that the deputies positioned their car to take the impression and cease the wrong-way driver from hitting others.
Whereas the deputies skilled minor ache, they didn’t have to be hospitalized, the sheriff stated.
In line with Sgt. B. Bondurant with the Harris County Sheriff’s Workplace, a number of 911 calls got here in round 1:30 a.m. a couple of wrong-way driver on the East Freeway close to North Most important. That driver was heading eastbound within the westbound lanes.
In line with Bondurant, deputies had their lights and sirens on once they crashed head-on into the driving force alongside I-10 close to Spur 330. Neither of the deputies—one a area coaching officer and the opposite a probationary patrol deputy—was significantly injured however did report soreness.
The suspected wrong-way driver, recognized by the sheriff as Nathan Arevalo, 23, was not injured and refused medical consideration. Deputies stated he confirmed indicators of intoxication.
Arevalo was later charged with driving whereas intoxicated and booked into the Harris County Jail, the sheriff confirmed.
“This might have been a really, very dangerous state of affairs,” Bondurant stated. “I simply need to give slightly kudos to our patrol deputies out right here for placing their life on the road and stopping what might have been a fatality crash.”
Avoiding a wrong-way crash
Houston police have shared 4 suggestions to assist preserve you secure from wrong-way drivers.
- First, keep alert together with your eyes trying forward and down the highway for potential issues.
- Second, at night time, attempt to keep in the suitable lane, as wrong-way drivers are more likely to be driving within the left-most lane.
- Third, if a wrong-way driver is headed in the direction of you, decelerate, transfer to the shoulder, after which name 911.
- Police say your job is to save lots of your self and never attempt to cease the wrong-way driver.
What’s being accomplished to fight wrong-way drivers within the Houston space
Officers stated the overwhelming majority of wrong-way driving incidents contain a driver who’s by some means impaired and prevention efforts give attention to infrastructure in addition to informing the general public of the dangers of impaired driving.
“We assault it with the with the three Es,” TxDOT public data officer Danny Perez informed KHOU 11. “That is engineering, enforcement and training.”
Efforts embody crimson, illuminated signage markings on the highway at exit ramps in addition to detection and warning methods.
“We have checked out completely different areas the place we might see the potential for people to return up the improper approach, particularly on our exit ramps,” Perez stated.
Managed roadways, just like the Westpark Tollway, can use mechanisms like gates so as to add a layer of safety.
Different metro areas have labored to handle the difficulty over time.
That features San Antonio which, in 2011, shaped a job drive to review the difficulty, provide you with potential options, put them in place and evaluate outcomes.
Putting in illuminated signage, highway markers, a digital camera detection and warning system all helped convey down the variety of incidents. Within the first yr of a pilot program alongside one roadway, the duty drive reported a 30% discount within the variety of wrong-way driving incidents.
In the end, officers say the primary strategy to cut back the variety of such incidents is to forestall drunk or impaired driving.
North Freeway is deadliest in terms of wrong-way wrecks
Harris County is not any stranger to wrong-way crashes.
The county has seen 2,891 wrong-way crashes within the final 10 years, in accordance with a KHOU 11 Investigates evaluation of Texas Division of Transportation information.
Eighty-seven of these crashes have been deadly and 111 individuals died.
The North Freeway is the deadliest stretch of roadway in Harris County over the previous 10 years, with 10 deadly crashes and 13 complete deaths. TxDOT information present medicine or alcohol have been concerned in each a kind of deadly crashes.
This is a listing of the roadways with probably the most lethal wrong-way wrecks in Harris County
