Ga. monitoring methods to stop wrong-way drivers

After a series of violent wrong-way collisions in metro Atlanta last year, Georgia highway engineers are monitoring results of a new radar system in Texas designed to detect wrong-way drivers and alert police.

Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jill Goldberg says the agency is awaiting results of a study in Texas, where several interchanges have been equipped with radar to detect wrong-way drivers and alert authorities. Similar technology has been deployed in the Milwaukee area.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a December report that states have identified effective measures to counter wrong-way driving, but there's limited federal guidance on using proven strategies to prevent it.

The NTSB found that, on average, 360 lives are lost each year in wrong-way collisions and about 60 percent of the crashes involve alcohol.