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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Two people were killed in a wrong-way crash overnight at the North Beltway and Veterans Memorial.
Police say that around 12:15 a.m., a black car traveled the wrong direction, going westbound in the eastbound lanes and crashed head on into another car.
One driver died at the scene. The second driver died at the hospital.
The crash shut down the area for at least three hours, but has since cleared.
It’s unknown at this time why one of the drivers was going the wrong way in the first place.
Sadly, this is one of several wrong-way crashes in less than a month.
On Dec. 27, a 12-year-old was hospitalized after a wrong-way crash in the Woodlands. Firefighters worked nearly 45 minutes to help get a man, a woman and a child out of a minivan in that wreck.
Just a few days before that, two people were killed and an innocent woman was injured in a wrong-way crash on SH-288 on Houston’s southside. The fatalities were the first on the new tollway since it opened in November.
When it comes to avoiding wrong-way drivers, authorities recommend that if you’re driving at night, you should always first be scanning the horizon. That means look for headlights far off in the distance. If you see a car heading your direction on a one-way road, immediately move to the right. Police officers explain impaired drivers often stay in what they consider their right lane, hoping to avoid law enforcement. However, a wrong way driver’s right lane is the highway’s so-called “fast lane.”
Once you move to the right, try to pull off the freeway altogether if possible. Only then when you’re safe, call 911 to report the wrong-way driver.