The Massachusetts state Senate – and particularly Minority Leader Bruce Tarr – deserve credit for taking an aggressive approach to reducing what seems to be an increasing number of deadly, wrong-way crashes on our highways.
It is imperative, however, that the recent momentum toward action – spurred by the deaths of a just-graduated high-school hockey star from Gloucester and a Beverly-born state trooper – must not become mired in state budget machinations.
Earlier this week, Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, added an amendment to the Senate’s proposed budget that would require the state Department of Transportation to develop a comprehensive plan for reducing the number of wrong-way incidents on state roads. The plan, under Tarr’s proposal, would include expanding the number of new signs and adding multi-sensory warning devices on highway on-ramps to warn motorists they are headed the wrong way.
Tarr’s plan would also have the DOT develop public service announcements to warn motorists of the dangers of wrong-way driving, among other measures.
“We have an opportunity here to save lives,” Tarr said. “We may never know how many lives will be saved, but we will save lives.”
Importantly, the proposal would also require that the state analyze incidents of wrong-way driving. Currently the DOT tracks only wrong-way violations issued on the Mass Pike and in the Callahan and Sumner tunnels. There is no data from incidents on local roads, or in cases where drivers turned around before being cited by police. That information is vital to addressing wrong-way hotspots.
The unanimous passage of the measure by the Senate comes a little more than a week after funeral services were held for State Police Trooper Kevin Trainor. The 30-year-old was killed earlier this month after trying to stop a wrong-way driver on Route 1 in Lynnfield.
The sense of urgency has also been spurred by the death last July of 18-year-old Christopher Dailey of Gloucester, who perished when the car he was in was struck by a wrong-way driver on the city’s A. Piatt Andrew Bridge.
And on Thanksgiving morning of 2024, Endicott College police Sgt. Jeremy Cole was struck head-on and killed by a wrong-way driver on Route 1-95 in Newbury.
Dailey’s mother, Nicole, appeared alongside Tarr on Thursday.
“It didn’t need to happen,” she said of her son’s death.
The state has already taken some action to address the issue, in 2022 launching a pilot program that saw the installation of wrong-way vehicle detection systems at 16 highway on-ramps across the state. The devices include LED lights, sirens and cameras that warn wrong-way drivers and other drivers of the danger.
Early results show the devices have proven effective (and have led to an 86% drop in wrong-way crashes in Connecticut, where they are in full use).
Tarr said the DOT has told him the program will soon be expanded to roughly 600 locations across the state.
That’s good news, and a good start. It won’t be enough, however, if the House doesn’t pick up, and largely match, the measures in the wider proposal in the state budget bill.
There’s no reason they shouldn’t: There’s no arguing the issue must be addressed, and there’s little need to create competing proposals. It’s time to simply get the work done.