JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With millions of families hitting the road this Labor Day weekend, safety is top of mind.

Wrong-way drivers are one of the deadliest dangers on Florida highways, turning an ordinary drive into a life-or-death situation in seconds. A growing network of detection systems is working to stop them before tragedy strikes.

To stop these drivers, officials monitor a high-tech command center in Jacksonville where multiple agencies, including the Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Highway Patrol, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville Fire Rescue and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission work side by side.

“The wrong way driving program started about 10 years ago in our sister District 7 Tampa area,” said Peter Vega with FDOT’s District 2. “And the effort was to be able to detect wrong way drivers on the interstate exit ramps, and then be able to notify law enforcement and have responders ready to try to stop the vehicle. In the Northeast Florida region, it was 5 years ago we started our program we’ve deployed, I believe about 60 to 65 with another 70 due in the next few years.”

Detection systems are placed at hotspots – interstate ramps where wrong-way driving is most likely. When a car goes the wrong way, flashing LED signs activate and an alert goes directly to the command center.

“Our system will give them an alert with signs that have flashing LED to let them know, hey, you’re going the wrong way, but if they continue, it’s alerting this facility and then we coordinate with Florida Highway Patrol in order to respond,” Vega said.

Drivers may also see alerts pop up on overhead signs. Vega says those warnings should never be ignored.

“Those are triggered automatically by our system,” Vega said. “So, when we get the alert, our software and network is saying post this message on the sign to let the motorists going the right way know that they may be in danger.”

The goal is to get drivers to take action to get out of harm’s way.

“The hope is that with that message, they’ll do the appropriate thing, which is to slow down, pull over to the shoulder, or even stop their car away from danger,” Vega said. “So that that way, if there is a wrong-way driver continuing in their direction, hopefully there isn’t an accident, but if there is, they’ve reduced that kinetic energy, which can lead to serious harm.”

How close could the wrong-way driver be? It depends.

“It is dependent,” Vega said. “So, in some locations, in St. Johns County is a good example, where the intersections are very, very far away. It could be four or five miles in an urbanized area. Like Jacksonville, one to two miles, so it’s depending on where you’re located.”

Once a driver is detected, alerts are triggered immediately and turned off once the danger passes. But, new technology could soon take it further.

“We’re hoping to have that in place in the next three months,” Vega said. “It’s in testing right now… the toughest part of that is testing it because you can’t like drive intentionally the wrong way, trying to make sure it works.”

According to FDOT, in its District 7 which includes Tampa, there were 89 wrong-way crashes in 2024 and 119 arrests, up from 54 crashes and 80 arrests in 2023. Data for Northeast Florida was not available.

Even though wrong-way detection can’t stop every crash, FDOT says it is already saving lives.

“I would say so,” Vega said. “We have a lot of elderly in Florida. So as far as when they get disoriented, they go the wrong way. We see it not only on the interstate, but the arterials. Once they get that alert warning then they realize, ‘Oh, you know, my mistake,’ and they go the correct way.”

The next time you see one of those overhead alerts, officials say don’t dismiss it.

“If you’re near a ramp, go ahead and take that ramp to get off the roadway,” Vega said.

There are about 450 traffic cameras operating across Jacksonville. FDOT says you can check live views and get traffic alerts using the FL511 website or app.