Suspected drunk driver went through 9 barriers before head-on crash on I-75, DOT says

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The south metro express lanes were still closed Friday night after an early-morning wrong-way crash on the reversible lanes of I-75 in Henry County.

Police said a suspected drunk driver went the wrong way during the morning commute around 6 a.m., slamming through nine barriers and causing a multi-car crash.

Police said the driver blew through multiple warning gates and headed southbound into traffic driving north.

We're taking you through the first morning commute since the crash that stopped traffic, on Channel 2 Action News This Morning.

"It took this person breaking through eight safety arms in addition to a metal barrier before they were able to access the system," Natalie Dale with the Georgia Department of Transportation said.

The wrong-way driver collided head-on with one car. Another car then slammed into the rear of the first vehicle, police said. All of the drivers were taken to local hospitals. Their conditions and identities have not been released.

Channel 2's Tom Regan was in Henry County Friday night after the crash where he got new pictures of the scene.

Dale told Regan that in the two years the south metro Express Lanes have been open, there have only been two wrong-way driver crashes.

"There are 10,000 people who travel this system daily and this doesn't happen, so this is definitely an outlier," Dale said.

Still, the crash has some drivers scared.

"They need to do something so people are more aware, put more signs up or something a little bit more visible," Tory Banks said.

Regan asked Dale if the GDOT would do anything different to prevent future crashes. She said they are going to take a close look at what happened and may consider additional barriers to keep wrong-way drivers out.

Cox Media Group