KILLINGLY, Conn. — There were no doubt some pounding hearts on I-395 in eastern Connecticut Wednesday afternoon as a confused driver caused chaos.
Sometimes, even with ample red wrong way signage posted on exit ramps across the state, some people simply don’t have the capacity to realize they are entering the highway on an exit ramp. That was the case Wednesday.
This white knuckle ride, from Killingly to Plainfield, was captured on video by Jake DeMaio, who was traveling southbound, on I-395, when he noticed a small SUV also heading southbound, but in the northbound lane!
"Despite efforts from passing motorists and troopers in an attempt to wave down the operator, those efforts yielded negative results, said Connecticut State Police Trooper Josue Dorelus.
DeMaio can be heard on the video saying, "Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!"
"There were three separate accidents that occurred on the roadway as a result of the wrong-way driver," said Dorelus. "Fortunately enough, there was a trooper that observed the vehicle traveling southbound, in the northbound lane, and took a strategic approach in an effort to stop the car to stop the vehicle."
An 85-year-old man, who was driving the car, suffers from undisclosed health issues. Police say he could be seen waving at other drivers, who were waving to alert him.
"Fortunately enough, the injuries that were sustained by everyone involved were extremely minor in nature," said Dorelus.
Connecticut State Police say it's incidents like this that make police encourage motorists on highways to travel in the center or right lanes as often as possible. That's because often the wrong-way drivers travel in what they assume to be the right lane, but it's actually the left.
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Dorelus says troopers have already been dispatched to over 100 calls reporting a wrong-way driver on Connecticut highways in the first five-plus months of this year.