4 dead in another wrong-way accident in Connecticut

STRATFORD, Conn. (AP) — A driver going the wrong way on Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway crashed head-on into a minivan early Thursday, killing all four people in the vehicles and closing one side of the highway for nearly seven hours, state police said with.

State police said an SUV was traveling northbound in the southbound lane when it collided with the minivan in Stratford around 1:45 a.m. and burst into flames.

Television news video of the aftermath showed a minivan with a smashed front end and a heavily damaged sport-utility vehicle lying on its side on the highway, also known as Route 15.

Concern is growing in Connecticut about oncoming-lane crashes, almost all of which are caused by drunk drivers, officials say. The state Department of Transportation has classified 200 exits as “high risk,” in part because multiple on-ramps meet at the same location.

According to state police, all three people in the minivan were killed – men ages 65 and 80 and an 81-year-old woman, all from Easton, Connecticut. The SUV is registered to a Massachusetts resident and the coroner’s office was working to identify the driver, who also died, authorities said.

There was also a second accident: a state trooper responding to the scene collided with a vehicle that was parked on the road without lights as the driver tried to help people in the head-on collision. The police officer suffered minor injuries, state police said.

The state Department of Transportation reported 13 wrong-way crashes in 2022, killing 23 people. Preliminary data for 2023 shows seven people were killed in five wrong-way crashes, the DOT said. And in February of this year, four people were killed in a crash on Interstate 95 in West Haven.

State authorities have installed warning systems on highway ramps that flash bright red lights to drivers going the wrong way. At some locations, systems also alert state police and traffic officials.