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Earlier this year, the Montana Department of Transportation installed nine new wrong-way sign systems with radar detection recently placed between exit 274 in Three Forks and North 7th Avenue in Bozeman.
For the second time in 2024, a wrong-way driving incident turned fatal on Interstate 90 in the Three Forks area.
The Broadwater County Sheriff's Office and Montana Highway Patrol are currently investigating a fatal two-car collision that happened on July 31 at I-90 Mile Marker 272 near Three Forks.
According to Broadwater County Sheriff Nick Rauser, at approximately 7:19 a.m., dispatch received multiple calls about a wrong-way driver.
Rauser said one of the first callers saw the driver traveling east make a U-turn and go west in the eastbound lane. Four minutes later, they received a call about a head-on collision.
Rauser reported that the driver going in the wrong direction, 56-year-old Robert Askins of Washington, and the other driver, 50-year-old Jason Sullivan of Montana, were both pronounced deceased on the scene. Rauser added one dog in Askins's vehicle had to be put down due to their injuries, and the other dog is currently being adopted.
Rauser thanked the Three Forks Volunteer Fire Department, Three Forks Area Ambulance Service, Willow Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Montana Highway Patrol, Montana Department of Transportation, Ron's Diesel, Hardaway Vet Clinic, and Heart of the Valley for their assistance with the incident.
"This is a tragic incident, and my heart goes out to both families," Rauser said.
WRONG-WAY DRIVERS
On January 4, 22-year-old Laysa Grewell was killed following a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver at mile marker 278 just outside of Three Forks.
Alexander Norbert LeDoux is facing eight charges in connection with the death of Grewell.
LeDoux has been charged with Vehicular Homicide While Under the Influence, Fleeing and Eluding Causing the Death of Another, and six counts of Criminal Endangerment.
LeDoux allegedly drove his vehicle in the wrong direction on the Interstate for approximately 20 miles. According to the documents, following a blood test taken over 70 minutes after the fatal head-on collision, the toxicology report indicated LeDoux had a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .198, well over twice the legal limit of .08.
The documents also reveal that LeDoux drove 108 mph near Manhattan for most of the unsent 2-minute Snapchat video on his phone.
At a press conference in late May, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer addressed the recent uptick in wrong-way drivers on Interstate 90.
Springer reported that between 2019 and 2022, an average of 9.5 incidents were reported per year on the I-90 corridor in Gallatin County. In 2023, 24 incidents were reported, a 152% increase from the previous years, and four of the five drivers contacted by law enforcement were arrested for DUI.
As of May, there had been 17 reports of wrong-way drivers, with three of the four contacted arrested for DUI.
Springer said at the news conference, "The numbers are staggering when you start looking at where we are from 2022."
Earlier this year, the Montana Department of Transportation installed nine new wrong-way sign systems with radar detection recently placed between exit 274 in Three Forks and North 7th Avenue in Bozeman.
According to Traffic Design Engineer Tyrel Murfitt, MDT had a statewide project several years ago that included wrong-way signage and other compliant traffic control devices on interstate ramps to try and control wrong-way drivers. He said the new signs in the Three Forks area are Phase 2 of the project, which was recently accelerated after the Bozeman and Missoula areas were identified as needing enhanced wrong-way driving features.
Murfitt described the main system of the new signage as "gated."
"Which means there will be one sign on each side of the ramp, one on the right and one on the left. They will contain a wrong way sign that will be red, and it has a pair of 12-inch diameter LED lights mounted one above and one below the sign. And it has a radar detection system, so when it detects a car going in the wrong direction on the ramp, it will activate the lights in a flashing pattern. So, essentially, when the system activates, you will see four flashing lights, two on each side of the roadway," said Murfitt. "
Murfitt said that based on national research, an approximately 35% to 40% crash reduction is anticipated, but wrong-way driving statistics can be very difficult to verify, and local conditions will factor into the effectiveness of the systems.
