Characteristics of Law Enforcement Response to Wrong-Way Driving Events in Florida

Wrong-way driving (WWD) can result in severe crashes. By responding quickly to WWD dispatch calls, law enforcement officers (LEOs) could stop the wrong-way vehicle before a crash occurs. This paper analyzed law enforcement (LE) response times to WWD dispatch calls in Florida between January 2003 and April 2018 to determine significant effects. The average LE response time was much lower for 2013 onward than before 2013. Average response time was lower during nighttime and in urban areas and was higher for county roads and toll roads. Two ordinal logit models were also developed. These models found that dispatch calls closer to regional traffic management centers or rest areas, in urban areas, or on state roads or local roads typically had lower response times than calls not in these locations. In addition, WWD dispatch calls on toll roads had lower response times than calls on non-toll limited access facilities. Intelligent transportation system (ITS) WWD countermeasures with flashing signs, detection dev...