How's this for surreal? I was driving our Mazda CX-9 north on California's 5 freeway near the Grapevine, a local term for what is in fact the Tejon pass. I was one lane over from the fast lane. Traffic was light...
I've seen people drive the wrong way down one-way streets before but never on a major interstate. I watched the Civic drive past. It was an elderly gentleman driving, and he apparently had no idea that he was going the wrong way. My meager and reflexive response? I honked my horn at him. (By the way, I took the above photo a few minutes after the event to give you idea of what I-5 is like at this point. When I first spotted it, the Civic was close to where that white SUV is.)
I have no idea how long this guy had been driving south – it must have been a while given the sparse exit ramps at this point of the 5 and that he had moved over to the "fast" lane. Nor do I know what ultimately happened to him. But I was a bit rattled. Afterwards, I tried a couple of mock emergency lane changes in our CX-9 just to simulate if I had been in the fast lane. It's not the most secure-feeling thing to do in a 4,500-pound vehicle, but our Mazda stayed pleasingly planted nonetheless.
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor @9,640 miles
gobryngo says:
04:12 PM, 03/17/08
oh my stars! that's very scary.
SubyTrojan says:
04:13 PM, 03/17/08
Glad you're okay, Brent! Hopefully, the driver of the Civic is, too.
estreka says:
04:23 PM, 03/17/08
Precisely why license tests should be administered every few years.
benson2175 says:
05:00 PM, 03/17/08
Same thing happened to me when I was sixteen, an old gentleman went the wrong way onto the highway here in Vancouver, I nearly crashed into him on the onramp. But I was stupid and didn't do anything about it. I should have called 911. I don't know what happened to him. In the shock I just kept on driving like you.
bromans says:
05:06 PM, 03/17/08
Benson - The funny thing is, I did try calling 911 on my cell. My first two calls were disconnected or didn't go through. On the third, I got an automated voice: "If this is an emergency, please press one."
I mentally debated the meaning of "emergency" while thinking there would be a 'press two for sort-of emergencies.' But there was nothing more. I kept waiting. Then looking at mhy phone, I noticed I had been disconnected again.
I just gave up at that point.
plazomatic says:
05:12 PM, 03/17/08
Unreal. I hope he wasn't on his way home from a farmer's market.
cartester16 says:
05:41 PM, 03/17/08
He's dead. You really should have kept calling 911, because that poor dude ended up a hood ornament on a late 90's Tahoe...prolly not too far from where you were cuz the surroundings looked the same. I'd say about 15 mi south of the grade. Whoops.
carfreak8394 says:
06:38 PM, 03/17/08
That is really scary !
And I agree with estreka that license tests should be administered every few years, maybe even more often for people over 60.
Here in Floria, the drivers are awful and 90% of them are old people who are completely oblivious to their surroundings.
jpr18 says:
06:47 PM, 03/17/08
what are you talking about carster16?? any facts to back that up??
I would have at once dialed 911 or pressed the SOS Button in my car to be connected with BMW Assist.
daytona_500 says:
06:52 PM, 03/17/08
Damn, that is crazy. Glad there wasnt a crash. No disrespect, but old folks seriously need to learn how to re-drive after a certain age.
tmanz says:
08:25 PM, 03/17/08
are you sure it wasn't Nicole Richie?
opfreak says:
08:41 PM, 03/17/08
it happens around wisconsin a few times a year. General here of a person dieing when it happens. I'd call it an emergency... the biggest fear i'd have is not the dumb driver going the wrong way. but the innocent person going the right way that has a very good chance of being killed by a selfish driver.
stovt001 says:
11:16 PM, 03/17/08
I've been driving through a canyon when I stumbled upon a brush fire. It took forever before I got into a spot with enough cell phone reception for my passenger to make the 911 call. It is times like this when I really see the advantage to systems like Onstar.
dougtheeng says:
06:42 AM, 03/18/08
cartester16, is that true? Did he crash?
smalone says:
06:43 AM, 03/18/08
We've had 2 fatal wrong-way crashed on local interstates in 2 days here in Atlanta. Makes you wonder how this can happen (alcohol aside) -- don't you notice that big OTHER stretch of parallel roadway where everyone, curiously, is going the same way you are?
karjunkie says:
07:41 AM, 03/18/08
I've seen this happen twice in Miami and it freaks me out. I don't think a driver's test is the solution. Anyone that disconnected to what is going on around him must be to some degree suffering dementia. I think a good old fashion annual physical and medical certification for driver license renewal after a certain age would be more effective
misterfusion says:
08:35 AM, 03/18/08
Holy cow! THAT'LL wake you up! As someone else said, even just hearing about this kind of stuff makes me glad I have Onstar. And not just for the direct emergency service, but also because the built-in antenna generally gets better reception than a regular cellphone.
bankerdanny says:
09:43 AM, 03/18/08
A quick google search doesn't find any record of a crash other than a drunk driver in an Infiniti in the early morning hours of 3/9.
mrnewsguy says:
11:10 AM, 03/18/08
There's a place on the Grapevine in which the two directions of the interstate actually do switch over each other, so the opposing traffic is on your right for a few miles. It makes you feel like you're going the wrong way if you're not used to it. But nothing like doing it for real.
jriz says:
11:33 AM, 03/18/08
On that stretch, you're a fair ways away from the highway's other side. There's a stretch of highway going into Montreal, however, where the sides of the road are reversed for some reason, but are put together. It's bizarre, but then so is Quebec.
cartester16 says:
11:37 AM, 03/18/08
No, I was just kidding!!! But, I will say that it definitely constituted a 911 call because someone could easily have died...
desmolicious says:
12:58 PM, 03/18/08
That's nothing, one time I was driving down the freeway and EVERYONE else was driving the wrong way! Crazy!...
johnmarco says:
06:57 AM, 03/19/08
Hey, give the guy some credit. At least from his perspective he was in the slow lane.
Seriously, that's insane. That sounds like dementia, agreed, but better retest older folks anyways.
gspfan says:
11:55 AM, 03/20/08
Was it Ralph Nader?