A wrong way accident that happen in the nighttime hours involved four vehicles and left 1 driver seriously injured.

According to Arizona authorities, the accident happened on Loop 202 in Phoenix metro area. Police said that a driver, who was not from Arizona, started traveling east in the westbound lanes of the loop.

The driver slammed into one car head on and seriously injured the motorist in it. Rescuers took the victim to a nearby hospital. Two other cars then collided with both of the vehicles in the head-on wreck. The drivers of the other two cars suffered what authorities called minor injuries.

Wrong way accidents happen for a number of reasons

People oftentimes only see people driving the wrong way in the entertainment media and may think of it as something that happens rarely. However, wrong way accidents are surprisingly common. In fact, they account for about 1% of all traffic fatalities each year.

Wrong way driving happens for a number of reasons. Fatigued driving and drunk or drugged driving frequently contribute to these types of accidents.

However, simply not paying attention to road signs or being unfamiliar with a city’s highway and road system can also contribute to wrong way accidents.

In some cases, government agencies could do a better job of making sure roads and signage clearly point drivers in the right direction.

Wrong way accidents frequently cause catastrophic injuries

A person who drives the wrong way runs a high risk of causing a head-on accident at a high speed. Not surprisingly, these accidents tend to cause very serious injuries just given the amount of force involved. An innocent victim of a wrong way accident can obtain compensation for his or her losses.