A woman is dead after a wrong-way driver caused a three-car crash on DuSable Lake Shore Drive on Chicago's South Side late Sunday night.
Police said at 11:21 p.m., a man in a black sport-utility vehicle drove south in the northbound lanes of the Drive near the Oakwood Boulevard exit.
He hit a white car head-on and caused a chain-reaction crash, sending the white car crashing into a black coupe.
The 35-year-old woman in the white car was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she later died. The other drivers were not hurt.
The driver of the black SUV was taken into custody.
All lanes on northbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive were back open as of just after 8:30 a.m. Monday.
As of Monday afternoon, no charges had been filed in the crash.
The police Major Accident Investigation Unit was investigating.
A report published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reveals wrong-way crashes result in about 500 deaths every year across the U.S., with hundreds more severely injured. A Traffic Injury Prevention study revealed about 58% of wrong-way drivers on Illinois roads were under the influence, with crashes often reported late at night or early in the morning.
P.S. Sriraj, Director of the Urban Transportation Center at UIC, says that, without knowing details, this emphasizes staying alert behind the wheel for all drivers.
"You are putting yourself at the mercy of other drivers," he said.
Sriraj said it's unclear what was at play in Sunday's crash, but transportation offices should still look at lighting and signage around the area where it happened.
"On Lake Shore Drive there have been at least nine or 10 deaths in the last 10 years and some of them may have been wrong-way crashes, some may have been distracted driving, some may be for speed."
"Wrong-way crashes can be especially serious because they often involve head-on collisions," said Aashish Narang with the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Narang's team at CARNATIONS, a Tier 1 U.S. Department of Transportation University Transportation Center led by IIT, is working on technology that could help address wrong-way crashes and prevent them in the future.
One of those projects? A system that could use vehicle data and sensors to alert drivers and surrounding drivers about risks on the road, in real time.
"If it detects the vehicle is traveling the wrong way, it is designed to warn the driver," Narang said.
Focusing on real-time detection of abnormal driving, as seen in wrong-way crashes. Nothing like this is currently being used on the road.
Another technology under development with their partner TruNav is NavSentinel, which detects GPS/GNSS spoofing and removes the spoofed signals from the positioning solution, helping keep the GPS information clean and trustworthy.
Both technologies are still under development and are just some examples of how technology can provide additional layers of safety.
"The best thing you can do is be very alert when you are on the road," Sriraj said.
The Chicago Department of Transportation, in a statement, said they review every fatal traffic crash in the city "to better understand the circumstances and identify potential safety improvements."
The Illinois Department of Transportation said in a statement:
"IDOT is focused on the safety of our roads for all users. One death is one too many and we are committed to constantly monitoring and observing our system for any possible improvements to help save lives, including monitoring trends and working with local, state and national partners in the identification of projects and programs to improve safety, especially for vulnerable road users. As always, we want to remind the public to practice safe driving habits – buckle up, drive sober, pay extra special attention in work zones, remain alert for bicyclists and pedestrians, slow down and put down the electronic devices."
