DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - Troopers with the Department of Public Safety catch up with a wrong-way driver on the Dallas North Tollway early Friday morning, thanks to the NTTA's wrong-way driver detection system.
DPS says April Labrada, 42, of Dallas entered the Dallas North Tollway at 35E, but she was going northbound in the southbound lanes.
The toll plaza detected Labrada going in the wrong direction, which is exactly what it's designed to do.
"We use tolling equipment that has sensors embedded in the ground," says Michael Rey with the NTTA. "So at each tolling point, that is essentially a wrong-way detection site as well.
"If the driver is going in the correct direction, it triggers the tolling system as planned,": Rey continues; "and if somebody's driving in the incorrect direction, it's easily able to pick that up and notify our Safety Operations Center."
That's exactly what happened shortly before 12:45 Friday morning.
"They in turn will dispatch DPS troopers and activate any electronic signage in the area to tell people who are driving on the roadway that there's been a wrong-way driver detected," says Rey.
Troopers caught up with Labrada about 13 miles up the road, pulling her over near Westgrove Dr. in Addison.
DPS troopers arrested Labrada for DWI, and they say this was her second DWI offense.
Rey says the sensors at the toll plazas are not the only wrong-way driver countermeasures that the NTTA employs.
"We have lowered signage at various points, because drivers believe in their own mind, apparently, that they are driving carefully and looking to the ground for clues, and that's why we put the signs down there," says Rey. "They also reflect headlights from a vehicle very well."
No crashes resulted from Labrada's wrong-way journey.
DPS says its investigation is ongoing.
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