January 3, 2023 • 27 mins
Wrong-way crashes on high-speed roadways are uncommon, but they’re almost always fatal. Ongoing research is supporting countermeasures to help drivers avoid – or escape -- a rare but perilous roadway hazard.
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Episode Transcript
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Bernie Fette (host) (00:14):
Hello.
This is Thinking Transportation-- conversations about how we
get ourselves and the things weneed from one place to another
and what may happen along theway.
I'm Bernie Fette with the TexasA&M Transportation Institute.
Wrong way driving occurs on alltypes of roadways.
(00:35):
Wrong way crashes are somewhatrare, but when they happen on
high speed freeway exit andentrance ramps, those collisions
are almost always serious orfatal.
More than 200 instances of wrongway driving are reported on
Texas freeways every year.
Most of them involving a driverwho's impaired.
(00:59):
Understanding those crashes andfiguring out how to prevent them
is the focus of one team's workat TTI, led by Melisa Finley, a
senior research engineer at theagency.
I know you've been super busy,Melisa.
There have been a number ofthings getting in the way of us
getting this scheduled, sothanks so much for taking time
(01:20):
to join us.
Melisa Finley (guest) (01:20):
Sure.
Bernie Fette (01:20):
And if we can, Melisa, let's begin by trying to
frame this issue of wrong waydriving.
What is it exactly and howwidespread is it?
Melisa Finley (01:33):
So when we talk about wrong way driving, we're
talking about people that eitherintentionally or unintentionally
end up going in the wrongdirection of travel.
So this can be from confusion,it can be caused by geometry, it
can be caused by otherbehaviors.
But yes, we definitely want todefine it as someone going in
(01:53):
the opposite direction of thenormal cars on the roadway.
Bernie Fette (01:57):
And that could be the wrong way up a one way
street, I guess technically, butyou focus on something a little
more narrow.
Melisa Finley (02:04):
We do.
A lot of times wrong way drivingis focused on freeways or what
we call limited access roadways,where we just have exit and
entrance ramps because those arehigher speed and unfortunately
those crashes tend to be fatal.
But wrong way driving happens onall types of roadways from city
streets to divided highways allthe way up to freeways.
Bernie Fette (02:27):
Okay.
And can you talk about howwidespread it is?
I mean, how many of theseincidents do we typically have
in Texas and elsewhere in agiven year?
Melisa Finley (02:35):
So for many years we were running between about
three and 400 wrong way drivingcrashes a year in Texas we did
top over 400 in 2021.
We do see coming out of thepandemic time period, a lot more
risky behavior across the board.
And we're obviously seeing thatin wrong way of driving
incidents as well.
(02:56):
But we do remain less than 1percent of the overall crashes
that happen in Texas.
So it's a small number, but as Imentioned, a lot of those
crashes end up being fatalitiesbecause they happen on high
speed roadways where you havetwo vehicles coming together
typically head on.
Bernie Fette (03:13):
Right.
And do you have a sense of howcommon the problem is beyond
Texas?
I know Texas is your focus.
Melisa Finley (03:20):
It happens everywhere.
We know in all states we havesome wrong way driving crashes.
A lot of times in the biggerstates that have more lane
miles, you're gonna see a highernumber of wrong way driving
crashes than others.
But it does happen everywhere.
It just also depends on thetypes of facilities those states
have.
You know, some smaller stateshave less highway miles, maybe
it's more urban streets, butagain, they're, they're
(03:41):
happening everywhere and ourcrashes show that.
But again, a lot of the focus todate from the research
standpoint has been on freewaysor those high speed divided
roadways.
Bernie Fette (03:51):
And how are the numbers trending?
Are they getting worse stayingabout the same?
Melisa Finley (03:56):
Percentage wise?
I'd say they're staying aboutthe same.
If you just look at raw numbers,you may be seeing some
increases.
But when we factor in thingslike vehicle miles traveled and
volume and we look at theoverall crash picture, they're
staying, I would say at leastTexas, they're staying about the
same percentage of the overallnumber of crashes.
Bernie Fette (04:13):
Okay.
I'm guessing that there are somepeople, and I certainly count
myself in this group, who are atleast somewhat surprised by the
extent of this problem, a littlesurprised that any driver could
find a way to come up the wrongway on a freeway exit ramp,
given all the warning signs--wrong way, do not enter-- these
(04:34):
big red sign.
Many of them lighted.
They almost seemed to scream outat people coming in that wrong
direction.
Not to mention the fact thatit's so nonsensical.
And I can certainly admit thatthere have been times when I was
in a very unfamiliar downtown inanother city and for a block or
so went the wrong way down a oneway street scares the heck out
(04:55):
of a person.
But can you help us understandwhy this happens?
Melisa Finley (05:00):
Yeah.
So let me just point out, it'sinteresting when I do
presentations on wrong waydriving, one of my first kind of
things I always ask the room ishow many people have seen a
wrong way driver?
And you'd be surprised that atleast more than half the
majority of the time raise theirhand.
Yeah.
So something that we know is thecrashes are small, but we know
the events happen a lot morethan translate into crashes,
(05:21):
which is good.
But we still know that theproblem really as we define it
typically with crashes, isunderestimated when we start
looking at the number of eventsand you talk to people and you
start looking at some othertypes of data besides crashes.
And so I always like to ask thatquestion and everybody kinda
looks around the room surprisedright.
That that many people have seenwrong way drivers.
Bernie Fette (05:41):
Do you also ask, okay, now that I've answered
that question, how many of youhave actually done this?
Melisa Finley (05:47):
I do.
I ask that question too.
And usually it's a smallerpercentage, but I have to raise
my hand for both.
Okay.
I like you have gotten confusedon a small collector, you know,
street in an urban urban areawhere you're not familiar, but
there's a lot of cues there.
Right?
As soon as you turn, there'scars maybe parked facing you,
there's one way signs, there's,you know, some vehicles coming
maybe at you at a very lowspeed.
(06:08):
You can kind of put your hand upand be like, wait a second.
And you do your three point turnand you kind of get out of the
way.
Yeah.
Um, that's not as easilycorrected or as recognized
sometimes on high speedroadways.
Especially because a lot ofthese types of events do happen
at night where we have lessvisual cues to be able to tell
us that we're going in the wrongdirection.
(06:29):
And then we also have impairmentthat comes into play with wrong
way driving.
And so, you know, you mentionedsigns, pavement markings at our
exit ramps.
Those are there to help tell adriver that they're going the
wrong way, especially if theyaccidentally get confused
because they're an unfamiliarmotorist.
But sometimes those traditionallow cost signs and pavement
(06:50):
markings do not catch theattention of someone maybe
that's impaired, and it can beimpaired from alcohol or some
kind of drug, but it can also bean impairment from a medical
condition.
Mm-hmm.
, We've seen thosebefore in the data where someone
is just confused cuz maybethey're in diabetic shock or
there's some other reason whytheir body is not functioning
(07:11):
normally and they may notrealize that.
And so there's a variety ofreasons that you may be impaired
and not make a correct decisionand turn the wrong way.
Bernie Fette (07:20):
Okay.
You mentioned impairment, youmentioned a lot of these happen
at night when our vision mightnot be as sharp and reliable as
it is in broad daylight.
I was waiting for you to mentionanother factor that I was kind
of curious about and that wasage.
Does age factor into your datavery much?
Melisa Finley (07:38):
It does.
Age does factor in.
So we do see, compare to someother types of crashes.
In some states we do see an overrepresentation of older adults
depending on the years you lookat in Texas, sometimes that's
held true, sometimes it hasn't.
But we do want to make sure thatwe're looking at older adults
when we're talking about thisissue.
A lot of times what we see isthose tend to be more of the
(08:01):
daytime crashes.
You know, a lot of older adultsalready regulate themselves
maybe to stop driving at nightso they're not as a big a
proportion of those types ofcrashes at night.
But during the day we do seesome confusion and some of those
can be overrepresented with anelderly population.
Just being aware of when itmight be your time to stop
driving or if you're a a childof an elderly adult, just to
(08:25):
have those candid conversationsand to watch so that they don't
become confused.
You know?
Cuz that's usually what happens.
I have witnessed four wrong waydrivers since I've started
studying this
Bernie Fette (08:36):
Just, just not doing research.
Melisa Finley (08:38):
Not doing research.
Bernie Fette (08:39):
You were just, you were just out driving and this
is what you saw.
Melisa Finley (08:42):
Just, just out driving of which several have
been on city streets here in theBryan- College Station area
where we're located and a coupleof those have been apparently
elderly drivers, but it's like aboulevard, a divided roadway
where they've just turned from asignal maybe into the wrong side
of the roadway fairly quicklyself-correct.
But those are common.
Yeah.
Bernie Fette (09:01):
I'm curious about what it was that prompted you
and your colleagues to startfocusing on this, which I know
you've been doing for a numberof years now, but somewhere
along the line, I wonder ifsomeone or some agency just
decided that this was a bigenough problem to warrant some
research.
Melisa Finley (09:17):
So as I mentioned before, the crash data, you
know, it's really random andit's really rare.
So when you start looking atthis data, there's, you have to
look at a large sample of years.
They again can be very horrifickind of crashes, right?
And newsworthy.
And so a lot of times it justhappens that if one happens and
(09:38):
there's news around it, we juststarted seeing it coming up more
and more.
And then a lot of times whathappens in a local area is
someone will end up in a crash.
For instance, in San Antonio, itwas a police person.
Mm-hmm.
.
So there was a police lady therein San Antonio that ended up in
a wrong way crash.
And that kind of elevated it.
Not to say that other peopleshouldn't be worthy of it being
(10:01):
elevated, but sometimes it takesthat one special kind of crash
for it to elevate in a communityto where people start digging
into the data, start looking atthe issue, and as we look past
crashes and start looking atevents, we can start to see more
of a trend of maybe wherethey're happening, how they're
happening, and then dive intothe reasons and start to look at
(10:21):
how to circumvent those fromhappening.
Bernie Fette (10:24):
And on the subject of circumventing them, can you
walk us through the progressionof solutions that you and your
team have come up with over theyears, some of the earliest
counter measures and how thosemight have led to other more
current ideas that you've putinto use?
Melisa Finley (10:40):
Yeah, I think the first thing for everyone to know
is it's just really important ifyou are a transportation agency,
just to check what you have outthere.
Obviously we use signs andpavement markings, they're a
critical piece on how we talk tothe drivers and they have to be
maintained, right?
So just making sure that yoursigns are still retroreflective,
your payment markings areretroreflective, everything's
(11:01):
present.
You know, things do get knockeddown and need to be maintained.
Bernie Fette (11:05):
I have to stop you just for a moment there whenever
you said retroreflective.
What's the difference betweensimply reflective and
retroreflective for ournon-engineers in the audience?
Melisa Finley (11:15):
No, great question.
So reflective just means like astandard surface.
Think of a paint wall, we'regonna get some reflection of
light off that wall, but if youwere to turn off the lights and
just hold a candle, you stillaren't gonna be able to
necessarily see that wall andit's not gonna stand out.
When we're retroreflective, weput special materials inside
pavement markings and signs sothat your headlights on your car
(11:38):
actually retro reflect, whichmeans they bounce off the sign
and come back to your eyes ofthe driver so that you can read
or see that device instead ofthe lights scattering like it
would on a more diffusedsurface, like say the the wall.
Bernie Fette (11:50):
And those are the treatments that every typical
sign on the freeways get beforethey go up in their placement,
right?
Melisa Finley (11:57):
That's correct.
All signs and pavement markingsthat are out there on the
roadway are retroreflective sothat you can see them at night
in your vehicle.
Bernie Fette (12:04):
Okay.
I interrupted you to get thatclarification and you were
talking about that quality, theretroreflective quality.
What else were you going tomention about the
countermeasures?
Melisa Finley (12:13):
Right, so as we look to more extensive
countermeasures, maybe that weare using the data to see areas
that may be more prone to wrongway, driving, whether it's
because of the geometry of theramp or maybe the surrounding
area environment.
We want to look at things thatwe call conspicuity elements,
which just the big word forsaying we wanna make sure you
(12:34):
see this device, this trafficcontrol device.
So we add an element to drawyour attention to that device.
Those could be beacons, thosecan be lights embedded in the
sign.
Those can be rapid rectangularflashing beacons that we put
above or below the sign.
And that just draws yourattention.
So if you're driving, we knowthere's a lot to be looking at,
right?
(12:54):
There's the roadway, you'recontrolling your vehicle, but
say there's a sign, like a wrongway sign that we wanna draw your
attention to because you'veturned in the incorrect
direction, we can use thoselights to do that.
We also put sometimesretroflective striping on the
pole so that it just pops morein the in the environment.
Bernie Fette (13:13):
Okay.
Melisa Finley (13:13):
And those types of things are kind of a step up
to be able to say, hey, you knowwhat?
We wanna make sure if somebodyturns the right way, we can draw
their attention.
But then you've gotta havesomeone that can read them,
right?
So if we're in our normal stateof driving, a lot of times those
kind of systems will help usturn around and we see that a
lot.
So as these systems areinstalled and transportation
(13:35):
agencies have also cameras anddevices that kind of coexist
with those types of trafficcontrol device systems, we can
actually see people turningaround and correcting, which is
great, right?
So we know they don't proceedonto the system, but sometimes
people, again, are impaired fora variety of reasons and they
don't necessarily get to be ableto read those signs.
(14:00):
Mm-hmm.
.
Um, so we do use color also,just so you know, if you ever
see red on the roadway, on thepavement, if you see a red sign
like a do not enter a wrong waysign, that's your first
indication as a driver thatyou're going the wrong way.
So make sure and look at thatcolor as well.
But sometimes all those devicesaren't interpreted by the driver
(14:20):
correctly and they do proceedonto the system the wrong way.
Bernie Fette (14:24):
Yeah.
And you were talking to thedriver there for just a moment.
I wonder if you could justcontinue down that path a little
bit.
If a person realizes, oh mygosh, I'm going the wrong way,
what should they do?
You mentioned a three point turna little while ago that I guess
would be great if the trafficisn't moving very fast, but
under various conditions, if adriver notices that they are
(14:48):
going the wrong way, what shouldthey do?
Melisa Finley (14:52):
Pull over and stop as soon as you can.
You know, the best thing to dois to try to get out of the path
of oncoming traffic as quicklyas possible and then as safely
as you can, try to turn yourvehicle around.
If you need assistance, call lawenforcement.
Just explain, I got on going thewrong way, I was confused on
where I was going.
I need some assistance out hereto safely turn around.
(15:12):
You know, there's a lot oftraffic say on a freeway and you
can't make that turn safely.
I would err on the side ofcaution and just make sure
again, that you pull off and beable to safely correct as soon
as possible.
Bernie Fette (15:23):
Okay, great.
Let's talk a little bit abouttechnology advancements in the
area of countermeasures,particularly those that we don't
know about yet.
We hear a lot about the prospectof self-driving cars, and I love
the comment that Jeff Paniatimade in our last episode, which
was"self-driving cars have beenfive years away for the past 10
(15:44):
years," but they are still onthe way-- at least, so we are
told.
And the prospect of self-drivingcars is built largely on the
promise that they will improvesafety.
How might advancementsassociated with those autonomous
vehicles help to createsolutions for the wrong way
driving problem, if at all?
I'm making an assumption there,but is there a potential benefit
(16:07):
there?
Melisa Finley (16:08):
Yes, I think there is, and I think there's
actually a benefit even as weprogress to that endpoint,
right?
So we're putting a lot moresensors on our cars, we're
putting a lot more assistancedevices on our cars, and I think
as we do that, we build in maps,we do other things, we're going
to be able to help people moreimmediately recognize via
whether the car just won't letyou turn that way or the car
(16:29):
gives you some kind of alarm,knowing that you're going in the
wrong direction.
Ultimately, self-driving cars,as long as they realize what the
system, how it's supposed tofunction and the direction of
travel, you know, in theory,again, like you said, that will
help reduce wrong way driving.
But we do have to make sure theinformation fed to those
vehicles or the information theyobtain from the roadway
themselves is correct for thatto happen.
(16:52):
Mm-hmm.
, you know, we dogo in and and change roads
temporarily.
We have to maintain andconstruct new facilities.
And so sometimes I'm thinking ofconstruction where we push
people onto the other side ofthe roadway.
Well, technically I'm on thewrong direction of travel, but
it's okay because you physicallyput me on the other side of the
roadway.
But we're gonna have to thinkthrough those kind of things for
(17:12):
the car to understand this is anokay situation to be going the
wrong way.
This is not an okay situation tobe going the wrong way.
So I think it's exciting.
I think it's definitely the waythat we'll be able to help those
motorists that are confused andother things, and hopefully with
those that even though theyshouldn't maybe choose to drive
impaired, you know, I think atsome point in our conversation
(17:35):
we wanna make sure and touch onthe fact that this does have a
driver behavior element to it.
That we can't solve everythingwith the vehicle.
We can't solve everything withthe traffic control devices.
We can't solve everything withthe geometry of the roadway
drivers.
At least for right now.
Like you said, we're not alldriving around in automated
vehicles yet.
(17:56):
We have to take someresponsibility when we get
behind the wheel to try to driveto the best of our ability.
And that means that if you'reimpaired, you should choose not
to drive.
So I think that's a big messagethat we miss a lot of times with
wrong way driving.
A lot of people want to focus onwhat was or wasn't present at an
exit ramp as far asinfrastructure, but we have to
remember that the driver hassome responsibility as well.
Bernie Fette (18:19):
And that very thing is exactly where I was
hoping that we could take ourconversation next.
You've made some considerableprogress with the
countermeasures that you'vetalked about, but as with any
other traffic safety problem,you're somewhat limited in what
you can do as an engineer.
Meaning you can engineer a lotof things that are within your
(18:41):
control, or at least within yourrealm of influence, but you
can't engineer human behavior.
So where do you see this going?
What might be the next ways tobring the wrong way driving
numbers down even farther?
Melisa Finley (18:56):
So I think sometimes, I mean, we've always,
as engineers looked at the humanfactor side of issues,
especially when it comes totraffic control device, but also
with design, right?
So there are some historicinfrastructure that's out there
that as we rebuild andreconstruct, we have to think
about ways that we're designingramps and interchanges to
minimize those types ofmaneuvers so that we can say,
(19:17):
hey, how could a human getconfused here and how can I
mitigate that?
And we can do the same withtraffic control devices, you
know, how we place them, how weangle them, how many we put out
there.
But again, like you mentioned,there's only so much we can do
as far as engineering to solvethis problem.
And so I think coming in withadvanced vehicle information and
(19:38):
the driving ability of the caralso notifying other drivers is
an important piece to this.
And that will come as we alsohave more advanced information
systems in vehicles, thosedynamic message signs that are
in locations, but they're fixed,right?
I don't have a dynamic messagesign on every mile of roadway.
We try to use communicationmethods that we can, but there's
(20:00):
apps, there's abilities togeofence certain areas now.
So there's ways that we cancommunicate out to folks as well
that are going the right way tolet them know there's an issue
on the roadway that they're onso they can be more prepared and
use caution.
So I think that's an importantpiece as well.
Communication, obviously knowingthat the driver is on the system
(20:22):
is important.
So detection, uh, the way we canuse infrastructure like cameras
or other types of radar, LIDAR,sensors that we have out there
at ramps and along the mainlanes just to be able to notify
us when a wrong way driver isthere so that hopefully we can
get law enforcement presentquick enough to stop that
(20:43):
vehicle before it turns into acrash.
Bernie Fette (20:46):
You can't engineer their behavior, but it's obvious
that you're doing a lot to atleast help them.
Melisa Finley (20:51):
We try to help the driver as much as possible.
I will mention that there is asmall number of wrong way
drivers that are intentional,and there's two types of those.
One type is I just wanna getfrom A to B in the shortest
route, so maybe it's notconvenient for me to go down a
road and make a U-turn, so I'mjust gonna go a couple hundred
foot down this road and turnbecause that's the closest route
(21:13):
for me.
I would just say to drivers,please don't do that.
You know, that's your choice todo that, but that's a behavior
that can lead to somethingdevastating for yourself or
someone else's family.
So take an extra minute, godown, go the correct way.
We all have time to be safe.
There is a small segment ofthose intentional folks that
(21:35):
unfortunately have decided thatthey maybe want to end their
life.
And so we do hear that some withwrong way driving.
We hear that some with ourcommercial motor vehicle folks
that we interview and talk toabout wrong way driving.
And unfortunately those areagain a small segment, but those
are ones again that you reallycan't engineer for, right?
That's a, that's a choice thatthey're making, unfortunately.
Bernie Fette (21:57):
Well, and as you said very early in our
conversation, these crashesmight be rare, but they are
almost always severe and fatal.
Melisa Finley (22:04):
Correct.
And unfortunately, yes.
Bernie Fette (22:07):
What have I not asked you about that you
would've liked me to ask youabout?
Any closing thoughts that you'dlike to bring together and wrap
up?
Melisa Finley (22:17):
It's just important that we realize that
if we're all going toward VisionZero or whatever it is, maybe
your transportation agency orstate has with respect to fatal
and serious crashes, that wehave to look at every type of
crash and that involves wrongway driving crashes.
And we have to look at all thetypes of data that we have
available to try to bettercontinue to understand why it's
(22:39):
happening, where it's happening.
But unfortunately, again, it'srare and random.
And so a lot of folks are alwaysasking, why can't we put a lot
of tech devices at every ramp?
There are thousands of exitramps alone in the state of
Texas.
And so that type of device isn'tmaybe applicable to every single
ramp.
And so we do have to balancesafety and operations and
(23:03):
funding.
And so I think just the morethat we can have people realize,
let's make good decisions whenwe're driving.
If we're impaired, let's notdrive.
If I'm just inconvenienced,let's go ahead and take that
extra time.
Be aware of your surroundingswhen you're that right way
driver.
Bernie Fette (23:19):
I think you bring up another really important
point that we really haven'ttalked about up to this stage,
which is the fact that buildingand operating a transportation
system is a costly endeavor.
And I remember 30 years ago whenI was first starting out at TTI
and one of the traffic safetyexperts at the agency told me,
(23:41):
he said, I could pretty mucheliminate traffic fatalities as
a problem in America almostovernight if you would just give
me a blank check.
And I could basically fix andprevent every sort of, or just
about every sort of crash, ormaybe not every sort, but
(24:01):
possibly prevent quite a few ofthe different types of crashes
from happening.
You can't put these signs, thesesignals necessarily at every
single spot where someone maythink they may do some good.
You have to really take care tomeasure how severe the problem
is in a given spot, et cetera.
Melisa Finley (24:21):
That's correct.
We do a lot of data analysis andhelp transportation agencies
with looking at where is themost, you know, appropriate
place maybe to use what we callhigher cost measures.
Bernie Fette (24:33):
Right.
Melisa Finley (24:33):
Uh, the low cost measures are pretty much
everywhere, the signs andmarkings.
Um, but yeah, when we're lookingat more detection systems, more
conspicuity elements, like Imentioned earlier, like the
lights, we want to make surethat we're using them in
appropriate locations.
So we try to make that be a datadriven approach.
Bernie Fette (24:51):
Okay.
Last question.
What is it more than anythingelse that makes you eager and
excited to show up for workevery day?
Melisa Finley (25:00):
Something new.
There's never anything old.
I do a lot of work with Kthrough 12 students as well, and
I always tell them thatengineering, especially
transportation, there's alwayssomething new.
And that doesn't mean it's notan issue I haven't looked at
before, but because oftechnology and advancements in
materials, there's so much thatyou may be able to answer a
(25:20):
problem today that I couldn'tanswer 10 years ago the same
way, right?
That I did I answered it to thebest of my ability 10 years ago
with what I had.
But now with all the technologyand the cars, the technology and
infrastructure, maybe I cananswer it differently and
improve upon it.
And so I think engineering isthat way.
It may be a similar questionthat you've approached before,
but there's so many new ways toanswer it.
(25:43):
It's teamwork.
I just, I've been at TTI almost25 years and I just never have
had a dull moment.
Bernie Fette (25:51):
Melisa Finley, senior research engineer at the
Texas A&M TransportationInstitute.
Melisa, this has been reallyinformative.
Thank you so much for sharingyour time and your insights with
us.
Melisa Finley (26:04):
Sure.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Bernie Fette (26:08):
Wrong way crashes make up fewer than 1 percent of
all roadway collisions, but whenthey happen, those crashes can
be devastating, often resultingin serious injury or death.
That's why the research focus inTexas has concentrated on high
speed freeways, where the worstwrong way crashes tend to occur.
(26:30):
Experts at TTI are developingnew countermeasures and refining
more established ones to helpdrivers avoid or escape a rare
but perilous roadway hazard.
Thank you for listening.
Please take just a minute togive us a review, subscribe and
share this episode.
(26:51):
We hope you'll join us againnext time.
Thinking Transportation is aproduction of the Texas A&M
Transportation Institute, amember of the Texas A&M
University System.
The show is edited and producedby Chris Pourteau.
I'm your writer and host, BernieFette.
Thanks again for listening.
We'll see you next time.
Hello.
This is Thinking Transportation-- conversations about how we
get ourselves and the things weneed from one place to another
and what may happen along theway.
I'm Bernie Fette with the TexasA&M Transportation Institute.
Wrong way driving occurs on alltypes of roadways.
(00:35):
Wrong way crashes are somewhatrare, but when they happen on
high speed freeway exit andentrance ramps, those collisions
are almost always serious orfatal.
More than 200 instances of wrongway driving are reported on
Texas freeways every year.
Most of them involving a driverwho's impaired.
(00:59):
Understanding those crashes andfiguring out how to prevent them
is the focus of one team's workat TTI, led by Melisa Finley, a
senior research engineer at theagency.
I know you've been super busy,Melisa.
There have been a number ofthings getting in the way of us
getting this scheduled, sothanks so much for taking time
(01:20):
to join us.
Melisa Finley (guest) (01:20):
Sure.
Bernie Fette (01:20):
And if we can, Melisa, let's begin by trying to
frame this issue of wrong waydriving.
What is it exactly and howwidespread is it?
Melisa Finley (01:33):
So when we talk about wrong way driving, we're
talking about people that eitherintentionally or unintentionally
end up going in the wrongdirection of travel.
So this can be from confusion,it can be caused by geometry, it
can be caused by otherbehaviors.
But yes, we definitely want todefine it as someone going in
(01:53):
the opposite direction of thenormal cars on the roadway.
Bernie Fette (01:57):
And that could be the wrong way up a one way
street, I guess technically, butyou focus on something a little
more narrow.
Melisa Finley (02:04):
We do.
A lot of times wrong way drivingis focused on freeways or what
we call limited access roadways,where we just have exit and
entrance ramps because those arehigher speed and unfortunately
those crashes tend to be fatal.
But wrong way driving happens onall types of roadways from city
streets to divided highways allthe way up to freeways.
Bernie Fette (02:27):
Okay.
And can you talk about howwidespread it is?
I mean, how many of theseincidents do we typically have
in Texas and elsewhere in agiven year?
Melisa Finley (02:35):
So for many years we were running between about
three and 400 wrong way drivingcrashes a year in Texas we did
top over 400 in 2021.
We do see coming out of thepandemic time period, a lot more
risky behavior across the board.
And we're obviously seeing thatin wrong way of driving
incidents as well.
(02:56):
But we do remain less than 1percent of the overall crashes
that happen in Texas.
So it's a small number, but as Imentioned, a lot of those
crashes end up being fatalitiesbecause they happen on high
speed roadways where you havetwo vehicles coming together
typically head on.
Bernie Fette (03:13):
Right.
And do you have a sense of howcommon the problem is beyond
Texas?
I know Texas is your focus.
Melisa Finley (03:20):
It happens everywhere.
We know in all states we havesome wrong way driving crashes.
A lot of times in the biggerstates that have more lane
miles, you're gonna see a highernumber of wrong way driving
crashes than others.
But it does happen everywhere.
It just also depends on thetypes of facilities those states
have.
You know, some smaller stateshave less highway miles, maybe
it's more urban streets, butagain, they're, they're
(03:41):
happening everywhere and ourcrashes show that.
But again, a lot of the focus todate from the research
standpoint has been on freewaysor those high speed divided
roadways.
Bernie Fette (03:51):
And how are the numbers trending?
Are they getting worse stayingabout the same?
Melisa Finley (03:56):
Percentage wise?
I'd say they're staying aboutthe same.
If you just look at raw numbers,you may be seeing some
increases.
But when we factor in thingslike vehicle miles traveled and
volume and we look at theoverall crash picture, they're
staying, I would say at leastTexas, they're staying about the
same percentage of the overallnumber of crashes.
Bernie Fette (04:13):
Okay.
I'm guessing that there are somepeople, and I certainly count
myself in this group, who are atleast somewhat surprised by the
extent of this problem, a littlesurprised that any driver could
find a way to come up the wrongway on a freeway exit ramp,
given all the warning signs--wrong way, do not enter-- these
(04:34):
big red sign.
Many of them lighted.
They almost seemed to scream outat people coming in that wrong
direction.
Not to mention the fact thatit's so nonsensical.
And I can certainly admit thatthere have been times when I was
in a very unfamiliar downtown inanother city and for a block or
so went the wrong way down a oneway street scares the heck out
(04:55):
of a person.
But can you help us understandwhy this happens?
Melisa Finley (05:00):
Yeah.
So let me just point out, it'sinteresting when I do
presentations on wrong waydriving, one of my first kind of
things I always ask the room ishow many people have seen a
wrong way driver?
And you'd be surprised that atleast more than half the
majority of the time raise theirhand.
Yeah.
So something that we know is thecrashes are small, but we know
the events happen a lot morethan translate into crashes,
(05:21):
which is good.
But we still know that theproblem really as we define it
typically with crashes, isunderestimated when we start
looking at the number of eventsand you talk to people and you
start looking at some othertypes of data besides crashes.
And so I always like to ask thatquestion and everybody kinda
looks around the room surprisedright.
That that many people have seenwrong way drivers.
Bernie Fette (05:41):
Do you also ask, okay, now that I've answered
that question, how many of youhave actually done this?
Melisa Finley (05:47):
I do.
I ask that question too.
And usually it's a smallerpercentage, but I have to raise
my hand for both.
Okay.
I like you have gotten confusedon a small collector, you know,
street in an urban urban areawhere you're not familiar, but
there's a lot of cues there.
Right?
As soon as you turn, there'scars maybe parked facing you,
there's one way signs, there's,you know, some vehicles coming
maybe at you at a very lowspeed.
(06:08):
You can kind of put your hand upand be like, wait a second.
And you do your three point turnand you kind of get out of the
way.
Yeah.
Um, that's not as easilycorrected or as recognized
sometimes on high speedroadways.
Especially because a lot ofthese types of events do happen
at night where we have lessvisual cues to be able to tell
us that we're going in the wrongdirection.
(06:29):
And then we also have impairmentthat comes into play with wrong
way driving.
And so, you know, you mentionedsigns, pavement markings at our
exit ramps.
Those are there to help tell adriver that they're going the
wrong way, especially if theyaccidentally get confused
because they're an unfamiliarmotorist.
But sometimes those traditionallow cost signs and pavement
(06:50):
markings do not catch theattention of someone maybe
that's impaired, and it can beimpaired from alcohol or some
kind of drug, but it can also bean impairment from a medical
condition.
Mm-hmm.
is just confused cuz maybethey're in diabetic shock or
there's some other reason whytheir body is not functioning
(07:11):
normally and they may notrealize that.
And so there's a variety ofreasons that you may be impaired
and not make a correct decisionand turn the wrong way.
Bernie Fette (07:20):
Okay.
You mentioned impairment, youmentioned a lot of these happen
at night when our vision mightnot be as sharp and reliable as
it is in broad daylight.
I was waiting for you to mentionanother factor that I was kind
of curious about and that wasage.
Does age factor into your datavery much?
Melisa Finley (07:38):
It does.
Age does factor in.
So we do see, compare to someother types of crashes.
In some states we do see an overrepresentation of older adults
depending on the years you lookat in Texas, sometimes that's
held true, sometimes it hasn't.
But we do want to make sure thatwe're looking at older adults
when we're talking about thisissue.
A lot of times what we see isthose tend to be more of the
(08:01):
daytime crashes.
You know, a lot of older adultsalready regulate themselves
maybe to stop driving at nightso they're not as a big a
proportion of those types ofcrashes at night.
But during the day we do seesome confusion and some of those
can be overrepresented with anelderly population.
Just being aware of when itmight be your time to stop
driving or if you're a a childof an elderly adult, just to
(08:25):
have those candid conversationsand to watch so that they don't
become confused.
You know?
Cuz that's usually what happens.
I have witnessed four wrong waydrivers since I've started
studying this
Bernie Fette (08:36):
Just, just not doing research.
Melisa Finley (08:38):
Not doing research.
Bernie Fette (08:39):
You were just, you were just out driving and this
is what you saw.
Melisa Finley (08:42):
Just, just out driving of which several have
been on city streets here in theBryan- College Station area
where we're located and a coupleof those have been apparently
elderly drivers, but it's like aboulevard, a divided roadway
where they've just turned from asignal maybe into the wrong side
of the roadway fairly quicklyself-correct.
But those are common.
Yeah.
Bernie Fette (09:01):
I'm curious about what it was that prompted you
and your colleagues to startfocusing on this, which I know
you've been doing for a numberof years now, but somewhere
along the line, I wonder ifsomeone or some agency just
decided that this was a bigenough problem to warrant some
research.
Melisa Finley (09:17):
So as I mentioned before, the crash data, you
know, it's really random andit's really rare.
So when you start looking atthis data, there's, you have to
look at a large sample of years.
They again can be very horrifickind of crashes, right?
And newsworthy.
And so a lot of times it justhappens that if one happens and
(09:38):
there's news around it, we juststarted seeing it coming up more
and more.
And then a lot of times whathappens in a local area is
someone will end up in a crash.
For instance, in San Antonio, itwas a police person.
Mm-hmm.
So there was a police lady therein San Antonio that ended up in
a wrong way crash.
And that kind of elevated it.
Not to say that other peopleshouldn't be worthy of it being
(10:01):
elevated, but sometimes it takesthat one special kind of crash
for it to elevate in a communityto where people start digging
into the data, start looking atthe issue, and as we look past
crashes and start looking atevents, we can start to see more
of a trend of maybe wherethey're happening, how they're
happening, and then dive intothe reasons and start to look at
(10:21):
how to circumvent those fromhappening.
Bernie Fette (10:24):
And on the subject of circumventing them, can you
walk us through the progressionof solutions that you and your
team have come up with over theyears, some of the earliest
counter measures and how thosemight have led to other more
current ideas that you've putinto use?
Melisa Finley (10:40):
Yeah, I think the first thing for everyone to know
is it's just really important ifyou are a transportation agency,
just to check what you have outthere.
Obviously we use signs andpavement markings, they're a
critical piece on how we talk tothe drivers and they have to be
maintained, right?
So just making sure that yoursigns are still retroreflective,
your payment markings areretroreflective, everything's
(11:01):
present.
You know, things do get knockeddown and need to be maintained.
Bernie Fette (11:05):
I have to stop you just for a moment there whenever
you said retroreflective.
What's the difference betweensimply reflective and
retroreflective for ournon-engineers in the audience?
Melisa Finley (11:15):
No, great question.
So reflective just means like astandard surface.
Think of a paint wall, we'regonna get some reflection of
light off that wall, but if youwere to turn off the lights and
just hold a candle, you stillaren't gonna be able to
necessarily see that wall andit's not gonna stand out.
When we're retroreflective, weput special materials inside
pavement markings and signs sothat your headlights on your car
(11:38):
actually retro reflect, whichmeans they bounce off the sign
and come back to your eyes ofthe driver so that you can read
or see that device instead ofthe lights scattering like it
would on a more diffusedsurface, like say the the wall.
Bernie Fette (11:50):
And those are the treatments that every typical
sign on the freeways get beforethey go up in their placement,
right?
Melisa Finley (11:57):
That's correct.
All signs and pavement markingsthat are out there on the
roadway are retroreflective sothat you can see them at night
in your vehicle.
Bernie Fette (12:04):
Okay.
I interrupted you to get thatclarification and you were
talking about that quality, theretroreflective quality.
What else were you going tomention about the
countermeasures?
Melisa Finley (12:13):
Right, so as we look to more extensive
countermeasures, maybe that weare using the data to see areas
that may be more prone to wrongway, driving, whether it's
because of the geometry of theramp or maybe the surrounding
area environment.
We want to look at things thatwe call conspicuity elements,
which just the big word forsaying we wanna make sure you
(12:34):
see this device, this trafficcontrol device.
So we add an element to drawyour attention to that device.
Those could be beacons, thosecan be lights embedded in the
sign.
Those can be rapid rectangularflashing beacons that we put
above or below the sign.
And that just draws yourattention.
So if you're driving, we knowthere's a lot to be looking at,
right?
(12:54):
There's the roadway, you'recontrolling your vehicle, but
say there's a sign, like a wrongway sign that we wanna draw your
attention to because you'veturned in the incorrect
direction, we can use thoselights to do that.
We also put sometimesretroflective striping on the
pole so that it just pops morein the in the environment.
Bernie Fette (13:13):
Okay.
Melisa Finley (13:13):
And those types of things are kind of a step up
to be able to say, hey, you knowwhat?
We wanna make sure if somebodyturns the right way, we can draw
their attention.
But then you've gotta havesomeone that can read them,
right?
So if we're in our normal stateof driving, a lot of times those
kind of systems will help usturn around and we see that a
lot.
So as these systems areinstalled and transportation
(13:35):
agencies have also cameras anddevices that kind of coexist
with those types of trafficcontrol device systems, we can
actually see people turningaround and correcting, which is
great, right?
So we know they don't proceedonto the system, but sometimes
people, again, are impaired fora variety of reasons and they
don't necessarily get to be ableto read those signs.
(14:00):
Mm-hmm.
Um, so we do use color also,just so you know, if you ever
see red on the roadway, on thepavement, if you see a red sign
like a do not enter a wrong waysign, that's your first
indication as a driver thatyou're going the wrong way.
So make sure and look at thatcolor as well.
But sometimes all those devicesaren't interpreted by the driver
(14:20):
correctly and they do proceedonto the system the wrong way.
Bernie Fette (14:24):
Yeah.
And you were talking to thedriver there for just a moment.
I wonder if you could justcontinue down that path a little
bit.
If a person realizes, oh mygosh, I'm going the wrong way,
what should they do?
You mentioned a three point turna little while ago that I guess
would be great if the trafficisn't moving very fast, but
under various conditions, if adriver notices that they are
(14:48):
going the wrong way, what shouldthey do?
Melisa Finley (14:52):
Pull over and stop as soon as you can.
You know, the best thing to dois to try to get out of the path
of oncoming traffic as quicklyas possible and then as safely
as you can, try to turn yourvehicle around.
If you need assistance, call lawenforcement.
Just explain, I got on going thewrong way, I was confused on
where I was going.
I need some assistance out hereto safely turn around.
(15:12):
You know, there's a lot oftraffic say on a freeway and you
can't make that turn safely.
I would err on the side ofcaution and just make sure
again, that you pull off and beable to safely correct as soon
as possible.
Bernie Fette (15:23):
Okay, great.
Let's talk a little bit abouttechnology advancements in the
area of countermeasures,particularly those that we don't
know about yet.
We hear a lot about the prospectof self-driving cars, and I love
the comment that Jeff Paniatimade in our last episode, which
was"self-driving cars have beenfive years away for the past 10
(15:44):
years," but they are still onthe way-- at least, so we are
told.
And the prospect of self-drivingcars is built largely on the
promise that they will improvesafety.
How might advancementsassociated with those autonomous
vehicles help to createsolutions for the wrong way
driving problem, if at all?
I'm making an assumption there,but is there a potential benefit
(16:07):
there?
Melisa Finley (16:08):
Yes, I think there is, and I think there's
actually a benefit even as weprogress to that endpoint,
right?
So we're putting a lot moresensors on our cars, we're
putting a lot more assistancedevices on our cars, and I think
as we do that, we build in maps,we do other things, we're going
to be able to help people moreimmediately recognize via
whether the car just won't letyou turn that way or the car
(16:29):
gives you some kind of alarm,knowing that you're going in the
wrong direction.
Ultimately, self-driving cars,as long as they realize what the
system, how it's supposed tofunction and the direction of
travel, you know, in theory,again, like you said, that will
help reduce wrong way driving.
But we do have to make sure theinformation fed to those
vehicles or the information theyobtain from the roadway
themselves is correct for thatto happen.
(16:52):
Mm-hmm.
temporarily.
We have to maintain andconstruct new facilities.
And so sometimes I'm thinking ofconstruction where we push
people onto the other side ofthe roadway.
Well, technically I'm on thewrong direction of travel, but
it's okay because you physicallyput me on the other side of the
roadway.
But we're gonna have to thinkthrough those kind of things for
(17:12):
the car to understand this is anokay situation to be going the
wrong way.
This is not an okay situation tobe going the wrong way.
So I think it's exciting.
I think it's definitely the waythat we'll be able to help those
motorists that are confused andother things, and hopefully with
those that even though theyshouldn't maybe choose to drive
impaired, you know, I think atsome point in our conversation
(17:35):
we wanna make sure and touch onthe fact that this does have a
driver behavior element to it.
That we can't solve everythingwith the vehicle.
We can't solve everything withthe traffic control devices.
We can't solve everything withthe geometry of the roadway
drivers.
At least for right now.
Like you said, we're not alldriving around in automated
vehicles yet.
(17:56):
We have to take someresponsibility when we get
behind the wheel to try to driveto the best of our ability.
And that means that if you'reimpaired, you should choose not
to drive.
So I think that's a big messagethat we miss a lot of times with
wrong way driving.
A lot of people want to focus onwhat was or wasn't present at an
exit ramp as far asinfrastructure, but we have to
remember that the driver hassome responsibility as well.
Bernie Fette (18:19):
And that very thing is exactly where I was
hoping that we could take ourconversation next.
You've made some considerableprogress with the
countermeasures that you'vetalked about, but as with any
other traffic safety problem,you're somewhat limited in what
you can do as an engineer.
Meaning you can engineer a lotof things that are within your
(18:41):
control, or at least within yourrealm of influence, but you
can't engineer human behavior.
So where do you see this going?
What might be the next ways tobring the wrong way driving
numbers down even farther?
Melisa Finley (18:56):
So I think sometimes, I mean, we've always,
as engineers looked at the humanfactor side of issues,
especially when it comes totraffic control device, but also
with design, right?
So there are some historicinfrastructure that's out there
that as we rebuild andreconstruct, we have to think
about ways that we're designingramps and interchanges to
minimize those types ofmaneuvers so that we can say,
(19:17):
hey, how could a human getconfused here and how can I
mitigate that?
And we can do the same withtraffic control devices, you
know, how we place them, how weangle them, how many we put out
there.
But again, like you mentioned,there's only so much we can do
as far as engineering to solvethis problem.
And so I think coming in withadvanced vehicle information and
(19:38):
the driving ability of the caralso notifying other drivers is
an important piece to this.
And that will come as we alsohave more advanced information
systems in vehicles, thosedynamic message signs that are
in locations, but they're fixed,right?
I don't have a dynamic messagesign on every mile of roadway.
We try to use communicationmethods that we can, but there's
(20:00):
apps, there's abilities togeofence certain areas now.
So there's ways that we cancommunicate out to folks as well
that are going the right way tolet them know there's an issue
on the roadway that they're onso they can be more prepared and
use caution.
So I think that's an importantpiece as well.
Communication, obviously knowingthat the driver is on the system
(20:22):
is important.
So detection, uh, the way we canuse infrastructure like cameras
or other types of radar, LIDAR,sensors that we have out there
at ramps and along the mainlanes just to be able to notify
us when a wrong way driver isthere so that hopefully we can
get law enforcement presentquick enough to stop that
(20:43):
vehicle before it turns into acrash.
Bernie Fette (20:46):
You can't engineer their behavior, but it's obvious
that you're doing a lot to atleast help them.
Melisa Finley (20:51):
We try to help the driver as much as possible.
I will mention that there is asmall number of wrong way
drivers that are intentional,and there's two types of those.
One type is I just wanna getfrom A to B in the shortest
route, so maybe it's notconvenient for me to go down a
road and make a U-turn, so I'mjust gonna go a couple hundred
foot down this road and turnbecause that's the closest route
(21:13):
for me.
I would just say to drivers,please don't do that.
You know, that's your choice todo that, but that's a behavior
that can lead to somethingdevastating for yourself or
someone else's family.
So take an extra minute, godown, go the correct way.
We all have time to be safe.
There is a small segment ofthose intentional folks that
(21:35):
unfortunately have decided thatthey maybe want to end their
life.
And so we do hear that some withwrong way driving.
We hear that some with ourcommercial motor vehicle folks
that we interview and talk toabout wrong way driving.
And unfortunately those areagain a small segment, but those
are ones again that you reallycan't engineer for, right?
That's a, that's a choice thatthey're making, unfortunately.
Bernie Fette (21:57):
Well, and as you said very early in our
conversation, these crashesmight be rare, but they are
almost always severe and fatal.
Melisa Finley (22:04):
Correct.
And unfortunately, yes.
Bernie Fette (22:07):
What have I not asked you about that you
would've liked me to ask youabout?
Any closing thoughts that you'dlike to bring together and wrap
up?
Melisa Finley (22:17):
It's just important that we realize that
if we're all going toward VisionZero or whatever it is, maybe
your transportation agency orstate has with respect to fatal
and serious crashes, that wehave to look at every type of
crash and that involves wrongway driving crashes.
And we have to look at all thetypes of data that we have
available to try to bettercontinue to understand why it's
(22:39):
happening, where it's happening.
But unfortunately, again, it'srare and random.
And so a lot of folks are alwaysasking, why can't we put a lot
of tech devices at every ramp?
There are thousands of exitramps alone in the state of
Texas.
And so that type of device isn'tmaybe applicable to every single
ramp.
And so we do have to balancesafety and operations and
(23:03):
funding.
And so I think just the morethat we can have people realize,
let's make good decisions whenwe're driving.
If we're impaired, let's notdrive.
If I'm just inconvenienced,let's go ahead and take that
extra time.
Be aware of your surroundingswhen you're that right way
driver.
Bernie Fette (23:19):
I think you bring up another really important
point that we really haven'ttalked about up to this stage,
which is the fact that buildingand operating a transportation
system is a costly endeavor.
And I remember 30 years ago whenI was first starting out at TTI
and one of the traffic safetyexperts at the agency told me,
(23:41):
he said, I could pretty mucheliminate traffic fatalities as
a problem in America almostovernight if you would just give
me a blank check.
And I could basically fix andprevent every sort of, or just
about every sort of crash, ormaybe not every sort, but
(24:01):
possibly prevent quite a few ofthe different types of crashes
from happening.
You can't put these signs, thesesignals necessarily at every
single spot where someone maythink they may do some good.
You have to really take care tomeasure how severe the problem
is in a given spot, et cetera.
Melisa Finley (24:21):
That's correct.
We do a lot of data analysis andhelp transportation agencies
with looking at where is themost, you know, appropriate
place maybe to use what we callhigher cost measures.
Bernie Fette (24:33):
Right.
Melisa Finley (24:33):
Uh, the low cost measures are pretty much
everywhere, the signs andmarkings.
Um, but yeah, when we're lookingat more detection systems, more
conspicuity elements, like Imentioned earlier, like the
lights, we want to make surethat we're using them in
appropriate locations.
So we try to make that be a datadriven approach.
Bernie Fette (24:51):
Okay.
Last question.
What is it more than anythingelse that makes you eager and
excited to show up for workevery day?
Melisa Finley (25:00):
Something new.
There's never anything old.
I do a lot of work with Kthrough 12 students as well, and
I always tell them thatengineering, especially
transportation, there's alwayssomething new.
And that doesn't mean it's notan issue I haven't looked at
before, but because oftechnology and advancements in
materials, there's so much thatyou may be able to answer a
(25:20):
problem today that I couldn'tanswer 10 years ago the same
way, right?
That I did I answered it to thebest of my ability 10 years ago
with what I had.
But now with all the technologyand the cars, the technology and
infrastructure, maybe I cananswer it differently and
improve upon it.
And so I think engineering isthat way.
It may be a similar questionthat you've approached before,
but there's so many new ways toanswer it.
(25:43):
It's teamwork.
I just, I've been at TTI almost25 years and I just never have
had a dull moment.
Bernie Fette (25:51):
Melisa Finley, senior research engineer at the
Texas A&M TransportationInstitute.
Melisa, this has been reallyinformative.
Thank you so much for sharingyour time and your insights with
us.
Melisa Finley (26:04):
Sure.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Bernie Fette (26:08):
Wrong way crashes make up fewer than 1 percent of
all roadway collisions, but whenthey happen, those crashes can
be devastating, often resultingin serious injury or death.
That's why the research focus inTexas has concentrated on high
speed freeways, where the worstwrong way crashes tend to occur.
(26:30):
Experts at TTI are developingnew countermeasures and refining
more established ones to helpdrivers avoid or escape a rare
but perilous roadway hazard.
Thank you for listening.
Please take just a minute togive us a review, subscribe and
share this episode.
(26:51):
We hope you'll join us againnext time.
Thinking Transportation is aproduction of the Texas A&M
Transportation Institute, amember of the Texas A&M
University System.
The show is edited and producedby Chris Pourteau.
I'm your writer and host, BernieFette.
Thanks again for listening.
We'll see you next time.
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