A 17-year-old high school senior was killed in a wrong-way crash on Route 1 in Revere early Sunday morning.
The teenager was driving the wrong way at approximately 3:30 a.m. when he struck another car near the Sargent Street ramp, causing his car to become engulfed in flames, according to the State Police. The driver was killed and the other driver suffered minor injuries. Traffic along Rte. 1 was shut down for about five hours after the crash.
While the driver has not been identified by the police, the Superintendent of the Triton Regional School District in Newbury said he was a senior at Triton High.
“Those who knew him saw daily how kind and caring he was to each and every member of our school community,” said Superintendent Brian Forget in a statement. “We are heartbroken, and as a community, we grieve this loss. Our deepest condolences go out to the family.”
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.
The crash in Revere comes after several fatal wrong-way crashes and close calls in the state in recent months, including the death of State Trooper Kevin Trainor on Rte. 1 in Lynnfield in April.
In July, Governor Maura Healey signed a bill into law aimed at addressing the rash of wrong-way drivers. That bill called for installing over 400 thermal detection camera systems to identify wrong-way drivers and trigger red warning lights illuminating WRONG WAY signs.
The tragic loss “serves as a painful reminder that the threat of wrong way driving on our roadways is unrelenting, and although we have passed landmark legislation to confront it, we must continue and increase our state’s efforts to deploy technology, increase awareness, and modernize roadway safety measures to reduce the risk of wrong way driving to the greatest possible extent,” said Gloucester state Senator Bruce Tarr, who authored the bill signed into law by Healey.
At a press conference on Monday, MassDOT Undersecretary and Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said the warning sign system has been installed at about 90 interchanges across the state, with plans to expand to about 300 of the state’s 600 interchanges.
“Those are lit signs,” said Gulliver. “They flash at you, and they give you a signal that you are going the wrong way. That’s in addition to all of the things telling you you are going the wrong way.”
With the technology and warning signs in place, MassDOT officials said about 60 percent of drivers self correct when headed the wrong way.