In Wisconsin, 484 of the 5,327 fatal traffic crashes from 2013 to 2022 involved wrong-way drivers — or 9.1%, the highest percentage of any state, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The national average was 3.5%.
Of the 5,819 people killed in crashes during those years, 569 fatalities involved wrong-way drivers — or 9.8%, also top among states, NHTSA said. The national average was 4%.
The data NTHSA provided to the Wisconsin State Journal, which the agency said is the most complete and recent available, includes wrong-way crashes on all kinds of roadways. For 2018 to 2022, the most recent five years, Wisconsin was No. 1 for fatal crashes and No. 2 for fatalities, behind Texas, involving wrong-way drivers.
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Some researchers look only at wrong-way crashes on divided highways, which have medians between traffic in opposite directions. In a National Academies of Sciences report last year, a map of wrong-way fatalities as a percentage of all crash fatalities on divided highways showed Wisconsin with 4%, the same as the national average, for 2004 to 2020.
Huaguo Zhou, a civil engineering professor at Auburn University in Alabama whose research group compiled the map, agreed to do the same analysis for the State Journal for 2016 to 2020, his most recent five-year period.
In that analysis, 6.3% of Wisconsin’s crash fatalities involved wrong-way drivers, 12th-highest among states. The national average was 4.9%.