NDOT putting up 12 new wrong-way warning systems after latest deadly crash

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Just hours after an off-duty Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer died in a wrong way crash Thursday morning, the Nevada Department of Transportation announced the addition of more wrong-way driver warning signs around the valley.

NDOT Director Tracy Larkin-Thomason spoke at a Regional Transportation Commission meeting Thursday and said the department is adding 12 wrong-way driver warning sign systems from downtown Las Vegas to the Summerlin area.

“While not 100 percent effective they are about 85 percent effective in mitigating the impacts of wrong way driver systems,” said Larkin Thomason.

The warning lights flash when they detect a driver beginning to go the wrong way down a highway exit ramp. They are meant to get the driver’s attention, so they turn around before getting on the highway in the wrong direction. The flashing warning signs are currently operational at I-15 and Starr, along with I-11/U.S. 95 at Durango, and Skye and Kyle Canyon. NDOT did a pilot program with the signs a few years ago, mostly in Northern Nevada.

FOX5 asked NDOT if the warning signs could go up in rural areas, after Thursday’s fatal crash near the Valley of Fire on I-15. An NDOT spokesperson said the department is not ruling out any location right now.

The department hasn’t named the exact exit ramps for the 12 new warning systems. It expects them to be put in sometime in the next year.

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