FARMINGTON — A system to detect wrong-way drivers in an effort to stem a trend of fatal crashes will be implemented at 20 priority dangerous locations, the Utah Department of Transportation announced Monday.

After testing the system since last fall at the Interstate 15/Park Lane/U.S. 89 interchange in Farmington, officials sought approval for the full system from the Utah Transportation Commission. The panel gave a green light to the $2.5 million project on Friday.

The system at Farmington has detected and alerted 23 wrong-way drivers, all of them turning around, UDOT said in a media release. Additional locations, including in Bountiful, Woods Cross, Lehi, Provo and Cedar City, and most of the rest in Salt Lake County, will be equipped with the system now.

Each site setup includes a detector unit, including radar and high-definition infrared cameras, plus red “Wrong Way” signs equipped with high-intensity LED lights. The signs activate, warning a wrong-way driver, and if the vehicle keeps going, the system alerts the Utah Highway Patrol and UDOT’s traffic operations center.

UDOT also has installed additional signs and modified traffic signals to help make it more clear to drivers which way to go, the release said.

In 2022, there were eight wrong-way crashes in Utah, which resulted in 10 fatalities. Wrong-way crashes are especially dangerous because they are typically head-on and occur at highway speeds.

A wrong-way crash on Legacy Highway in Farmington on Oct. 19, 2019, killed two people and injured three others. An Orem woman was charged with negligent homicide.

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