PennDOT gives update on what’s being done to stop deadly wrong-way Route 28 crashes

PITTSBURGH — Since last fall, Channel 11 has been pushing for answers about what is being done to try to stop wrong-way drivers on our roads.

We were the first to identify a project on Route 28 that will bring new technology to one of the main roads leading to Pittsburgh. Now, after another recent wrong-way crash, PennDOT is giving us an update on the project and explaining how the technology will make it safer.

It’s something Kiersten Sands would like to see happen soon.

“I can’t stand, and I can’t walk,” Sands told us from her wheelchair at West Penn Hospital.

Her life is drastically different right now than it was before Aug. 19.

Sands was trapped inside her Jeep after it flipped on its side on Route 28. Pittsburgh Police say a wrong-way driver in a Mercedes sedan hit her, head-on, near East Ohio Street.

“Before we collided, I beeped the horn again and I tried to flash my lights to tell him like, ‘You’re going the wrong way,’” Sands said. “He never stopped. He didn’t hit his brakes. He didn’t do anything and boom, he hit me, head-on.”

The police report Channel 11 obtained shows Raja Ramireddy was driving with a suspended license. Police say he told them he got on Route 28 at Anderson Street and believed that Sands hit him head-on.

In the report, the officer says he tried to explain to Ramireddy that there are 16 signs, including flashing red lights next to “wrong-way” and “do not enter” signs. They say he did not comprehend that the northbound lanes were on the other side of divided Route 28.

When Channel 11 asked police if a field sobriety test was given, a public information officer said officers on the scene are trained to recognize the hallmarks of impaired driving. They determined the driver was not impaired but rather confused about the roadway.

Sands didn’t think she’d make it out of the car alive. She says the jaws of life had to cut her out of her Jeep.

“I just remember waking up in the hospital and the doctor standing over me telling me I’m lucky to be here,” said Sands.

She’s been working hard to be able to walk again. While Jennifer Tomazic visited her at West Penn Hospital, she shared with her new details about the wrong-way driving project that PennDOT is putting in on Route 28.

“It definitely is one of our corridors that we’re the most concerned about due to those crashes,” said Stephanie Zolnak, PennDOT District 11 District Traffic Engineer.

The number of crashes on Route 28, coupled with the narrow shoulders are two reasons Zolnak says PennDOT chose Route 28 for the new technology.

It’s like what is already on the HOV lanes.

Twenty exit ramps from the City of Pittsburgh to the Harmar exit are flashing “do not enter” and “wrong-way” signs to try to get the wrong-way driver’s attention. The signs also detect the wrong-way driver.  When that happens, PennDOT’s traffic management center is alerted, so it can tell dispatchers and police so that they can respond.

Zolnak thinks this could notify PennDOT 10 to 15 minutes sooner of a wrong-way driver.

“Which, moments matter whenever it comes to lives,” Zolnak said.

For drivers going in the right direction, electronic highway signs will alert them of the wrong-way driver.

“I think that could be helpful, but I also think they should put a gate (at the end of the ramp) that only lets you out, instead of in,” Sands said.

Her doctors aren’t sure how long she’ll be rehabbing at West Penn or what movement she’ll be able to regain.

“I do understand that people make mistakes, but some mistakes cost yourself and other people their lives,” Sands said.

PennDOT says the project is on time so far. Crews will be installing the first part of the wrong-way driving systems this fall on Route 28. PennDOT is already looking at the same design for a project on the Parkway East that Channel 11 uncovered too.

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