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    Wrong-way driving on England's motorways increased by 15% in past year, investigation finds
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    Wrong-way driving on England’s motorways increased by 15% in past year, investigation finds

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    1. Dude4001 on

      Presumably it was very low before so a small increase is enough to make for a dramatic looking percent change

    2. flingflangfloder on

      Here I thought almost all signage is intuitive, not to mention the physical infrastructure layout making this really difficult to get wrong

    3. Lunarfrog2 on

      I’ve noticed there’s alot of elderly people who really shouldn’t be driving who are. My Grandad is 90 soon, has been in an accident recently, got a new car and is still driving about. Told my parents he’s no longer competent enough to drive and my mum has said its terrifying being in the car with him but they won’t talk to him to suggest he gets public transport/taxis instead. We require regular tests/exams etc to operate forklifts and other machinery/vehicles at work, it’s time to start having regular test/eye exams or whatever from 70/75 ish imo

    5. INTuitP1 on

      The sheer number of constantly changing roadworks, I’m not surprised.

      The slip roads on the junction I use regularly, changes every time I use it. I can easily imagine if you’re older or it is very confusing and actually quite easy to end up going the wrong way.

    6. turboNOMAD on

      Hardly a surprise, considering 99.9% of drivers in the UK always drive the wrong way. So, increasing traffic over the years inevitably means more wrong-way driving. I suggest it’s about time to fix the problem once and for all, [like Sweden did](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H).

    7. EaseUsed5465 on

      Net immigration is also up if I remember correctly.

      That said, if I moved to another country, I’d definitely end up on the wrong side of the road a few times.

    8. nikhkin on

      It’s an increase from 858 to 988.

      A worrying number of incidents, but not a substantial increase in terms of actual numbers when you consider how many vehicles are on the road.

    9. a_boy_called_sue on

      Be very interested in the demographics of this? Is it uniform over the country? Is it related to age? Which areas / motorways are worse etc

    11. Hypohamish on

      Is there a reason we couldn’t add those “one way” spike strips like what you get at certain car parks and other secure locations?

      I know it means you have to drive over them slowly like a speed bump, but given a lot of slip roads for motorways end up on roundabouts, I don’t think forcing people to slow down would be too much of an issue versus the benefit of stopping this ever happening entirely?

    12. james2183 on

      Genuinely didn’t think this was a thing until I saw someone going the wrong way up the M40 a couple of weeks back. Surely if you see cars coming at you, you know you’ve fucked up?

    13. RefdOneThousand on

      Would be helpful if the reasons for the wrong way driving (and info on the drivers) were collected and reported, rather than just numbers and anecdotal evidence.

      E.g. sat nav wrong / out of date, confused elderly driver, driver confused by new / temporary road layout, foreign national visiting, foreign national resident, criminal evading police, drink / drugs driver, etc.

      Then we can come up with some ways to reduce this eg signage, education, more police.

      If this info does not exist / has not been gathered, the Department of Transport / Highways Agency / Police should start collecting this.

    14. Atheistprophecy on

      Days ago I was at that big service station near Stansted Airport and the guy in the mini driving the wrong way all the way to find parking space. He didn’t care and he knew it was bad because I told him and he kept going anyway anyways.

    17. GreyFoxNinjaFan on

      I’d be interested in the demographics behind the number. The number of drivers aged over 70 is over 6m now.. I would wager there’s significant correlation and causation.

    18. ManufacturerOwn3883 on

      I believe having dangerous drivers starts from insurance companies. I am wondering why the car insurance companies don’t ask the person to sent their driving license. Many drivers on the road don’t have a driving license. They easily lie and ensure the car. Many of them disqualified before but still driving. Everyday I see some drivers who really don’t know the driving rules on the roads such as giving way in roundabouts.

      I have no idea why the government and police don’t enforce the law to insurance companies to check the person’s driving license before insuring the car. That alone removes many dangerous drivers off the roads.

    19. penghuwan on

      People are saying age which is valid but also people on holiday from abroad where driving regulations are wildly different but their license allows them to drive in the UK may be another reason. An example being a Chinese tourist that drove down a bypass the wrong way last month and [killed a biker](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3rxev83l38o).