Red Reflectors Mean Wrong Way: San Diego's Fight Against Wrong-Way Crashes

Wrong-way crashes are rare and devastating: two vehicles closing at freeway speed, head-on. San Diego County has had enough of them in recent years that Caltrans made the region a focus of its prevention work. Much of what it installed is invisible to ordinary drivers by design, which is why it is worth knowing it is there.

What Caltrans has done in San Diego

• A pilot that worked. Caltrans tested red reflective pavement markers, detection systems and illuminated signs in San Diego and Sacramento. It reported that wrong-way drivers fell by 44 to 64 percent during the pilot, depending on the type of enhancement.
• Red reflectors as standard. The reflectors proved effective enough that Caltrans made them part of its standards for exit ramps statewide; by the summer of 2023 it had installed them on almost 700 exit ramps in its San Diego district.
• Targeted upgrades. Through a director's order, the San Diego district upgraded and expanded wrong-way infrastructure on more than 90 exit ramps in the county that had experienced wrong-way events.
• Markings only the wrong way can see. In 2020 Caltrans began testing red arrows and DO NOT ENTER lettering on San Diego ramps that are visible only to a driver heading the wrong direction.
• A public campaign. In May 2022, Caltrans and the state Office of Traffic Safety launched a wrong-way education campaign in San Diego County with the message "Red reflectors mean wrong way."

If red reflectors are facing you

Normal pavement markers look white or yellow from the right direction. If the markers ahead are glowing red, or a DO NOT ENTER sign is lit up in front of you, you are on a ramp or lane the wrong way. Stop as soon as you safely can, get as far off the roadway as possible, turn on your hazard lights and call 911. Do not try to continue to the next interchange.

If a wrong-way driver is coming toward you

Caltrans's San Diego district gives four practices:

1. Move out of the way as quickly and as safely as possible.
2. As soon as it is safe, call 911 and report the driver.
3. Keep a high visual horizon — scan far down the road — so you see hazards early enough to get out of the way.
4. Avoid distractions, pay attention, and never drive impaired.

Headlights in your lane at night, or approaching on the wrong side of a divided road, are the signal. The earlier you see them, the more options you have.

Why impairment is the common thread

Caltrans notes that many drivers involved in wrong-way crashes were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and its campaign says it directly: impaired drivers make wrong-way drivers. Beyond the danger, the record consequences last. A DUI conviction stays on the DMV record for ten years, and California's Good Driver test requires no DUI conviction in the previous ten years. A ride home costs a fraction of either.

The coverage that matters in a head-on

A wrong-way collision is the scenario where limits are tested. California's minimum liability limits are $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $15,000 for property damage. Under Insurance Code section 11580.2, uninsured motorist coverage includes an underinsured motor vehicle, which is what protects you when the driver who hit you carries far less than your injuries cost. That makes your uninsured and underinsured motorist limits, and your own medical payments coverage if you carry it, the lines worth reviewing.

If your policy still has the limits you picked years ago, let us quote higher uninsured motorist limits; it is one of the most useful upgrades for freeway driving.