TAMPA, Fla.-- A car going the wrong-way is possibly the worst sight you can see on the road, with headlights speeding towards you. Tampa Police released a video on Monday after it happened to one of its officers over the weekend on I-275 North, near the Fowler Avenue exit, in Tampa early Sunday morning.
RELATED STORY: Dash cam video released of wrong-way driver
Those crashes are heavily concentrated in the area right around I-4 and I-275 and they normally happen late at night or early in the morning.
Despite the wrong-way signs and flashing lights, Tampa Police say in the latest incident Aja Cancela, a mother, was the one barreling towards a Tampa police officer at a high rate of speed early Sunday morning going the wrong way.
The officer was able to get out of the way safely. Cancela was arrested.
Andrea Davis is a spokeswoman for the Tampa Police Department and says, "Just looking away for a second could have been a life or death situation. She seemed to be more concerned about why the officer wasn't out arresting murderers and drug dealers instead of targeting someone like her."
Florida's Department of Transportation has created a map that shows where we're seeing the problem the most. 10News WTSP asked why not immobilize cars getting on the wrong way with something like tire spikes.
Kris Carson is a spokeswoman for FDOT who says, "That won't work for multiple reasons: number one, if an emergency vehicle or an ambulance needs to go up the ramp the wrong way to assist a victim, they won't be able to do so. These [spikes] are designed for parking lots, parking garages, and low speed areas -- no more than 5 miles an hour."
Carson says what's worse is that the spikes don't deflate fast enough to stop vehicles. She adds, "Over time, the spikes can actually break off and damage cars that are going down the ramp the right way."
She says it's an issue FDOT is tracking. She says it's not a road issue it's an issue with drivers. Carson says of 105 wrong-way driving arrests, all of them involved impaired drivers.
