The new Contrary Direction Alert system from Ford will prevent us from becoming 'kamikaze drivers'

If there is one thing we believe should never happen, it is finding ourselves on a street going the wrong way. We know we have everything under control, and even use a navigation system that always guides us along the right route and prevents us from missing an exit or entering where we shouldn’t. But sometimes a small accident occurs, or perhaps there are roadworks, or simply, it happens. A street that suddenly changes direction, without giving the navigation system time to notice the change, and we end up in a mess: we have driven into a street or road going the opposite way.

It doesn’t matter whether it is a country road, a motorway or a street. Without meaning to, due to heavy rain, fog or tiredness, we can take a wrong direction and create a high-risk situation without intending to. This happens more often than we suspect, without any real intention of causing an accident. Fortunately, driving assistants can help prevent it. Ford has developed the Contrary Direction Alert, an assistant that warns us as soon as it detects that we are driving in the wrong direction.

It is very useful, because the road we have entered may be deserted, and we may not meet another car for several kilometres. So, if it is a road we are not familiar with, we can drive for several minutes without noticing the mistake. The Contrary Direction Alert works with the traffic sign recognition system that several Ford models already use.

This driving assistant uses GPS to track the car’s trajectory, and a front-facing camera that detects traffic signs and displays them on the screen in front of the driver. If the camera detects two wrong-way signs on both sides at the entrance of a motorway or expressway, the system sends a visual warning in the form of a wrong-way sign to the instrument cluster or the head-up display, along with a message prompting the driver to check their direction of travel.

With this system we can avoid a serious scare, since it prevents a car from accidentally entering a motorway in the wrong direction, whatever the reason. In Spain, drivers who travel the wrong way on a motorway or expressway are called “kamikaze drivers“, although the DGT refers to them as “Drivers Driving in the Wrong Direction“, and around 130 accidents a year are caused by them. It should be noted that most of these drivers do not intend to cause any harm; they are simply mistakes made at road entrances.

In Germany they are called “Geisterfahrer“, “spookrijder” in Dutch and “conducteur fantome” in French, and these countries also see many accidents of this kind. With this driving assistance system, which will be available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, this type of lapse that can lead to serious driving problems will be avoided. Once it is established in these countries, we hope it will soon reach the rest of Europe and that we can enjoy it in Spain too.

https://youtu.be/V-au9oHm7xY