Rhode Island now has one of the highest maximum fines in New England for those convicted of driving the wrong way on a highway or a highway entrance or exit ramp after Gov. Dan McKee signed legislation significantly increasing the penalty into law last week.
The penalty if convicted is now a fine of up to $500 and the suspension of a driver’s license for up to six months under legislation sponsored by House Deputy Speaker Raymond A. Hull, a Providence Democrat, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Matthew L. LaMountain, a Warwick Democrat. Previously, the maximum fine was $85.
McKee signed the legislation on June 26.
“We have all seen the tragic news stories about horrible accidents occurring because people were driving the wrong way on the highway,” Hull said in a statement. “Such actions are beyond dangerous for the driver and anyone else unlucky enough to be using the road at the same time. Hopefully, these increased penalties will deter such unsafe behavior.”
“Driving the wrong way on the highway puts everyone at considerable risk and this danger is only increased if it takes place during the night,” LaMountain said in a statement. “This legislation will hold people accountable for such hazardous conduct and hopefully, it will protect innocent people on our state’s highways from becoming victims in catastrophic accidents.”
In Massachusetts, traveling in the wrong direction could lead to a fine between $50 and $500, the higher range for Boston’s Sumner, Callahan, or Ted Williams tunnels.
The maximum fine for a wrong-way highway violation is $220 in Vermont, $183 in Connecticut, $180 in Maine and $150 in New Hampshire, according to state police officials in those states. But other charges may apply as well. In Maine, for example, an additional charge of driving to endanger is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail.
The legislation received strong support from AAA Northeast. Fatal wrong-way driving crashes on U.S. divided highways led to 2,008 deaths between 2015 and 2018, according to a report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety cited in a letter submitted to the House Committee on Judiciary in March by AAA Northeast Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Mary Maguire. That number represented a dramatic spike in fatalities across the country: A total of 375 deaths resulted from wrong-way driving in the years spanning 2010 to 2014.
Alcohol impairment, increasing age and driving without a passenger were identified as three main factors contributing to wrong-way driving, the AAA report found.
Approximately 43% of fatal crashes in Rhode Island involve drunk driving, which ties the state with South Carolina for the highest percentage of alcohol-related fatal crashes in the nation. The national average is 30%.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation installed wrong-way driver detection systems at 24 high-risk areas, mostly in the Providence area, in 2015. A driver who enters a highway off-ramp activates a series of flashing signs and the system also notifies the Rhode Island State Police and takes a picture of the vehicle. The system displays a message on overhead signs to warn drivers heading in the opposite direction.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
