PORTLAND, Maine — It's always important to be aware to your surroundings when driving, but a recent string of wrong-way drivers in Maine has many on high alert.
In the past couple of months alone, wrong-way drivers have caused a handful of significant crashes forcing busy roadways to close for long periods of time, leading many to question why they are happening.
John DiPretoro encountered the problem firsthand recently while driving on I-295 near Yarmouth. DiPretoro recalls nearly getting hit by a driver traveling the wrong way in his lane.
"The car in front of me jammed on their breaks and swerved out of the way, and that was good because it really caught my attention... I would have just been driving along," DiPretoro recalled. "And I had about a second to get out of the way, and fortunately there was no one to my right."
DiPretoro's incident isn't the first within the year, with four wrong-way drivers and crashes occurring in a burst since early December.
Maine saw a spike in deaths from wrong-way crashes diverting from the normal one or two to six casualties last year. As well, Maine broke its record for the most wrong-way crashes in 2022, according to data from the Maine Department of Transportation.
Transportation officials say those numbers don't necessarily mean we're seeing the start of a trend, but they are working to make Maine roads safer.
"We're actually working with MaineDOT right now for buying internally lit wrong-way signs. So if you're sitting at an intersection and you look over, you'll actually see the sign. You don't have to actually turn the wrong way [to view the sign]," Peter Merfeld said, who works as the chief operations officer for the Maine Turnpike Authority.
Merfeld says while the cause of around two-thirds of wrong-way drivers is due to intoxication, the remainder stems from distracted or confused drivers.
"They also found that between 6 p.m. at night and 6 a.m. in the morning, [there's a] high frequency of crashes," traffic safety educator Tom Baran, who works for AAA Northern New England, said.
Baran says to avoid crashes, staying present while behind the wheel can both help you avoid a crash and avoid driving down the wrong way.
If you do find yourself heading towards a wrong-way driver, Baran says the best way to avoid a crash is to turn over to the breakdown lane as soon as safely possible and to dial 911.