Overview
- Lawmakers are preparing to discuss a bill to scale a year‑old pilot that now uses 16 wrong‑way detectors that trigger flashing LEDs and sound when sensors are tripped.
- State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr is backing a plan that emphasizes using the right technology at each location rather than a single one‑size‑fits‑all solution.
- The proposal calls for additional directional arrows and highway signage alongside detectors and seeks a rapid rollout, although funding and a deployment schedule have not been set.
- The push follows several recent fatal wrong‑way incidents cited by officials, including deaths connected to Gloucester, Endicott College, and a state trooper killed while stopping a wrong‑way driver.
- Officials point to other states’ systems and claims of large reductions in wrong‑way incidents as context, and the debate at the State House will determine whether the pilot expands and how it will be paid for and implemented.