Attention, drivers going the wrong way on expressway increasing

Chugoku Shimbun reports that the number of incidents of people driving the wrong way on the region’s expressways is on the increase. According to police there were 105 reported cases of the dangerous act in 2011, up 15% on the previous year.

As you might expect, some of the cases are people missing their turnoff and trying to get back to the interchange, doing U-turns etc. Many, however, seem to be due to senility. Over half of the 33 drivers police were able to identify were over 70 years old.

They include the 84 year old guy [ja] who drove 30km on the wrong side of the Chugoku expressway near Miyoshi at 50-60km/hr with his buddy last summer. He is reported to have said that he had no idea that he was on the expressway.

Be careful out there!