Parents of wrong-way crash victim praise new detection system

The parents of a Utah man killed in a wrong-way crash nearly eight years ago are praising the arrival of a detection and alert system for wrong-way drivers.

“It’s just going to help save lives,” said Jan McMillian. “It could’ve helped save my son’s life.”

Jan and her husband Mike lost their son, Michael, in a wrong-way crash in 2015. The woman who hit their son was impaired and also died in the crash.

The system attempts to alert wrong-way drivers after detecting them going the wrong way. If they keep going, UDOT and Utah Highway Patrol are notified.

“This is going to help them detect these wrong-way drivers a lot faster because the girl that hit my son, she was on the freeway for a while,” Jan said.

2News first reported on the detection and alert system midday Monday. UDOT said the first of 20 systems will be installed in the spring. The entire installation should be installed this summer.

“I’ve talked to the police before and this is one thing that they wanted,” Mike said.