Tampa, Florida -- The Florida Highway Patrol will again target wrong-way drivers with an additional 15 troopers enforcing traffic laws in the Bay area Thursday night.
This is the second of three enforcement campaigns that looks for impaired and wrong-way drivers. The first effort was the weekend of Oct. 17.
Motorists are asked to contact troopers at *FHP (*347) if they see an impaired or wrong-way drivers.
There have been several highly publicized incidents of wrong way drivers in the Bay area in recent months, including several deadly crashes:
On February 9, four University of South Florida fraternity brothers died when a drunk driver crashed into them head-on near Busch Boulevard The wrong-way driver was also killed.
On August 13, Hillsborough County deputies arrested Jason Fulford as he drove the wrong way down the very same highway, before getting off at Busch Boulevard and crashing.
Two days later, Edward Duran allegedly drove the wrong way down Interstate 275 and crashed into an ambulance near Floribraska Avenue.
Early on the morning of September 21, terrified drivers called 911 to report they were dodging a wrong-way driver on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, near I-75. Troopers arrested Kevin Smisor, a high school teacher, was arrested for DUI and driving the wrong way.
The very next day, 25-year-old Jessica Rey Mahn was killed after crashing head-on with a tractor trailer after she drove the wrong way on I-75 in Pasco County.
On October 1, the Florida Highway Patrol pulled over a woman driving the wrong-way on the Veterans Expressway and Suncoast Parkway. She was arrested for DUI.
And once again, on the very next day, another woman was arrested for driving the wrong way on the Suncoast Parkway... by the same Trooper who made the arrest a day earlier!
A Tampa Police officer was hospitalized after she was struck by a wrong-way driver a few days later, on October 5.
Then on October 9. two people were lucky to survive a head-on wrong way collision in Lakeland.
Despite the recent high-profile nature of these incidents, even law enforcement officers could find themselves on the wrong side of the road. On October 23, off-duty Tampa Officer Anton Lipski allegedly drove the wrong way down a one-way street and crashed his vehicle into a wall. He faces charges of driving under the influence.
