Wrong-way driving (WWD) is a growing concern because the resulting crashes tend to be severe and often result in fatalities and serious injuries. Advancements in cooperative automated technologies will enable significant possibilities to provide WWD warnings through in-vehicle navigation systems and smartphone-based mobile applications. A national communication standard for incident data including WWD events would enable data from multiple sources (e.g., 911 calls, on-road detection field equipment, self-reporting mobile applications) to become available through a data feed for in-vehicle mechanisms to access and provide alerts to errant drivers and nearby motorists.
This research completed a synthesis documenting several commercially available WWD in-vehicle systems and mobile applications, promoted the concept of a national communication standard and data feed for WWD events, and gathered input from transportation agencies regarding the readiness of agency-generated WWD event data to be contributed to a data feed. The project concluded that there is agency and industry interest in a national WWD communication standard and data feed. However, the WWD event data currently available from sources such as 911 calls, on-road detection equipment, and traffic management center observations is likely not yet ready to be pushed to such a feed. Future efforts to advance this concept can build upon national initiatives that are exploring the development of a data and communication standard for disruptive incidents, which could include WWD events.