Woman crashes after driving wrong-way on I-675 ramp in Miami Twp.

State troopers said a woman drove the wrong way for more than a mile on I-675 through Washington and Miami townships early Thursday morning, but was stopped before she was injured and before anyone else was hurt.

State troopers say a woman drove the wrong way for more than a mile on I-675 through Washington and Miami townships early Thursday morning, but was stopped before she was injured and before anyone else was hurt.

OTHER LOCAL NEWS: 87-year-old woman killed in wrong-way crash in downtown Dayton 

"Luckily at that time of night there was relatively no traffic," said Sgt. Jeff Kramer of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

State troopers said that the woman told them in an interview that she got on 675 and started going the wrong way from Route 725 in Washington Township at about 12:25 Thursday morning.

"She kind of immediately knew maybe she was going the wrong way, but didn't know what to do at that point, but kept travelling," said Kramer.

Troopers said the woman was only going about 40 miles an hour.

She reportedly traveled one and a half miles to the middle of the ramp from I-75 south to 675 north in Miami Township before she started turning around.

"Then she went off the road and struck that concrete wall," said Kramer.

Miami Township police found the wreck, helped her and blocked traffic so no on-coming cars could hit her.

State troopers said this could have had a "catastrophic" ending.

Wrong way crashes are rare. They make up one-tenth a percent of total crashes in Ohio each year on average, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

>>> U.S. 35 West in Xenia remains closed after semi crashes down embankment

But ones on the highway are 100 times more likely to be deadly than other impacts, because they're at high speeds and often head-on.

"Those typically have horrific outcomes," said Kramer.

ODOT cameras did not capture the wrong-way driver.

Troopers spoke to the woman about why she was driving the wrong way.

"I think age had some factors in that," said Kramer. "And not familiar with the area. That's the best we can determine through the interview."

State troopers said they will be talking to the woman and her family to see if they'll require her to get re-tested at the BMV to keep her driver's license.

"We don't want to remove people from their cars, but if it's too unsafe for the public sometimes that has to happen," said Kramer.

About the Authors