(Juneau) The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office is reminding motorists about the dangers of driving the wrong way on a highway.
There has been an increase in those types of crashes in the county resulting in six fatalities. Sheriff Dale Schmidt says many wrong way crashes occur because the driver is not paying attention and relying on their GPS too much.
“Believe it or not, Google and Siri are not always right, and sometimes they put people in the wrong path.”
Schmidt says the other cause for wrong way crashes is experienced drivers often get disoriented at night. He adds the first thing drivers need to do if someone identifies the wrong way driver is to not only get in the right lane but also get off to the right side of the road completely and stop.
“Don’t continue driving at any speed at all, and here’s the reason why,” says Schmidt. “If you’re driving 70 miles an hour, and the other driver is also driving 70 miles an hour, the collision is not a 70 mile an hour crash. It is a 140 mile an hour collision. Your change in velocity is 140 miles an hour difference.”
The sheriff says that if the driver stops and the wrong way driver hits them at 70, it is only a 70-mile-an-hour collision.
