Wrong Entrance in Vancouver

Although there is a long list of potential reasons for a driver to be disoriented... whatever the cause we have to understand that whether the impaired vision due to age,  due to limited visibility, or related to alcohol there will be situations where the operator of a vehicle makes errors or is distracted at critical times. According to TMC News, Sheila Walls fell into this unlikely situation of being a driver confused enough to obviously overlook the wrong way signage near Esther Short Park. And this unfortunately resulted in tragedy on Sept 12. Link to the story.

My heart goes out to the injured and deceased in this situation. In a quick review of the exits from Highway 14 near Esther Short Park the C St. and 6th Street exits appear to be troublesome for a impaired or distracted driver. The map view of the end the new two-way addition to C St. is linked here. Notice that the striping on the roadway is new and if you try to see this in street level view... the new two-way additions are not visible (due to older Google Street View Image). Also the 6th St exit is troublesome, marked only with wrong signs and not special arrows markings on the pavement.

It's good that the news article does mention the renovations on C St. and related work that the city is initiating to resolve the problem. It's sad that alcohol is the contributing factor in these accidents on Highway 14... but regardless of the problem - where transportation system provide a small potential for failure, it eventually happens. I imagine another thing to consider is that because this exit ramp runs adjacent Interstate 5 (in such a way that might seem like an on ramp based on the angle of roads and the direction, etc. I do think the proposed LED signage is a good option in these areas where the existing wrong way signs are located. Also if alcohol was served at a celebration Miss Walls attended it seems like some sort of awareness on the part of the party throwers should be considered... not sure what that might be, maybe a sobriety checking like a coat check in before you depart. Let me know if you have ideas.