Just over a week ago, a turn down the wrong way of the street cost one Houston woman her life.
A woman driving a Kia on the Southwest Freeway in the early morning hours of Friday was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 59. Police believe that the Kia was traveling between 80 and 90 miles per hour. According to a spokesman from the Houston Police Department (HPD), the Kia’s driver was lost control of the vehicle, hit the center barrier of the freeway near Chimney Rock Road, spun across several lanes of traffic and was struck by a Jeep Wrangler. The driver of the Jeep tried to avoid the Kia, but was unable to prevent the collision, according to news sources.
Accident investigators noted that the wrong-way driver died at the scene of the accident. Despite significant damage to the Jeep Wrangler, the other driver was not injured in the crash.
Just prior to the fatal motor vehicle accident, the Kia’s driver attracted the attention of law enforcement officials when she almost ran into a HPD unit that was transporting an inmate. The police vehicle called for backup, but the backup had trouble catching up with the woman because she was on the wrong side of the freeway. By the time they caught up with the wrong-way driver she had already collided with the Jeep.
Investigators are having tests performed on the wrong-way driver to determine whether or not she was intoxicated at the time of the accident.
Source: My Fox Houston, “Driver Killed in Wrong Way Vehicle Crash,” 5/27/11.