(excerpt)Police stop 2nd driver heading wrong way
KYTJA WEIR AND CARRIE LEVINE, kweir@charlotteobserver.com
...Less than three hours after Saturday's deadly wreck, investigators were still at the crash site when another 911 call came in: A vehicle was going the wrong way on Interstate 485 less than five miles away.
Trooper Brandon Roberts and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Matthew Yoder, who were helping with the first wreck investigation, jumped into their squad cars.
They found Jeremy Scott Walker, 21, driving about 25 mph on the highway's shoulder, Roberts said. He was heading west in the eastbound lanes. Yoder flashed his lights and Walker stopped....
Interesting tidbit: The victim of last month's DWI head-on collision, on the brand-new I-485, was also a student at UNCC, and also a legal immigrant.
It's a scary situation for reaction.
I nearly was hit last weekend by a headon Ford F250. I saw him about 1/4 to 1/8 mile away as we both came over a crest in the road and he stayed in my lane for several seconds. At first I thought he was just passing something, but there wasn't anybody around him on a 4 lane rural highway with divider turning lane.
He finally returned to his lane, but it left me in a dilemma as to what the best response to take. If the driver had drifted asleep, veering right might place you into his ultimate path. If remain steady, reaction distance/time is half your perceived safe distance and time to take action. If you veer to the left, then that is the path he would take if he was avoiding me.
I braked repeatedly, but it has to be one of the more easily encountered but deadliest situations out there.
New6 showed Brock's "myspace" page last night...it used bottles of Jack Daniels for a background.
It's interesting that a reporter feels compelled to include this little tidbit in the article.
Perhaps some of these http://steelturman.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/a_wrong_way_sign_1.JPG might help.
