Nevada State Police strained by amount of wrong-way crashes

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – While Ron Yuhas was driving east on the 215 northern beltway on Thursday evening, a black SUV was traveling in the same direction, but on the other side of the freeway.

It was the vehicle Nevada State Police (NSP) said caused a fatal multi-vehicle crash by traveling into oncoming traffic.

Yuhas shared with 8 News Now that the disbelief prevented him from initially believing the nearby car was driving the wrong way.

“I realized that there was an SUV over there on the other side traveling well over 100, and I tried to kind of keep up with him because I knew what was going to happen,” Yuhas said Friday afternoon, acknowledging he eventually let the car go due to its high rate of speed. “I could hear cars honking and flashing their brights.”

Yuhas knew he caught back up to the black vehicle by the billowing smoke seen over the center median of the same color. NSP said the SUV collided head-on with another vehicle that then overturned and struck a car. Those two other vehicles caught fire.

Yuhas, safe on the other side, felt compelled to pull over.

“The driver was yelling for help, and so I instantly jumped over the barrier without really thinking about it,” Yuhas said. “You see stuff like this on TV and you don’t relate with it until you’re right there in that moment.”

He joined others helping distressed drivers to safety, or at least those they could safely reach amidst scorching flames that other drivers captured on video. Collectively, Yuhas said they removed the driver of one of the cars on fire off the freeway.

“He had the gash on his forehead. I think his nose was broken. (His) back was all burnt from the fire in his vehicle,” Yuhas said. “He was having kind of a hard time even processing (what had happened) as he got out.”

Of the three adult male drivers, this is the only one that survived. NPS, in a release on Friday, corrected incorrect information it provided on Thursday, saying the wrong way driver and one of the cars he hit both died on the scene.

Wrong-way driver calls are leaving state troopers strained, according to NPS Public Information Officer and Trooper Shawn Haggstrom, who are unable to follow these drivers to stop them as they typically do for other reckless driving reports. He says the reporting calls typically do not come in until moments before the crash happens.

“You usually can’t ask the driver what they were thinking because they’re dead by the time you guys get there, right?” 8 News Now Reporter Ryan Matthey asked during a virtual interview Friday, to which Haggstrom confirmed.

The agency gets slight assistance from wrong-way driving technology, which includes flashing “wrong way” signs on the freeway and interstate off-ramps that detect when a car enters from the wrong way and send video to first responders. There are only four locations in the Vegas Valley that have them, and Thursday’s wrong-way driver likely did not encounter any of them.

The Nevada Department of Transportation expects to enhance more exit ramps along U.S. 95 from the Spaghetti Bowl around the Rainbow curve later this year, though widespread installation valley-wide is likely years away.

“It’s very intense for us because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Haggstrom said.
For those like Yuhas, the bone-chilling experience may never be forgotten, unless he’s no longer required to drive this portion of freeway every day. It’s the fastest way to his job and family, he says.

Haggstrom told 8 News Now that a majority of wrong-way crashes happen from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and on weekends. To best protect yourself from a wrong-way driver, he suggests:

• Scanning the upcoming road 10 to 15 seconds ahead of reaching it
• At night, avoid traveling in the lane closest to the median where a majority of these crashes happen
• Utilize headlights and seatbelts