Groton man describes moment he was almost hit by a wrong-way drunk driver on I-93
GROTON - A Groton man was driving home on I-93 South when a car driving the wrong-way narrowly missed him.
Grateful to be alive
"My wife would be planning a funeral today," driver Max Collins said.
Collins was coming back from his hockey league in Salem to his house in Groton at the time. He had decided to switch lanes seconds earlier, a decision that likely saved his life.
"I've been kind of thinking about that all day," Collins said. "I haven't really slept much. For destiny to kind of get you that close it was really shocking and jarring."
He then called 911, but police officers were already aware of the driver and were on their way. New Hampshire State Police arrested 49-year-old Deirdre Masi of Lowell for the incident.
Masi is charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless conduct, reckless driving, and criminal threatening.
Collins is grateful to be alive and is using the terrifying ordeal as a lesson in gratitude.
"The holidays coming up, I'm glad I'm going to be there for that and I think I'm going to enjoy it a little bit more. I knew how quickly it could have been over."
Over 500 wrong-way crashes
"When they do happen it tends to be amongst the most severe," University of Massachusetts Transportation Center Director and Professor Mike Knodler said.
There have been 7,730 wrong-way driving-related crashes in Massachusetts since 2014, according to AAA. So far in 2024, there have been 597 and it's due to two factors.
"One that comes up in a lot of different crash patterns is distraction. Drivers are distracted and potentially miss where it is they're supposed to be, they're focused on something else and the other one is often times impairment," Professor Knodler said. "There's a lot of different things being done to combat wrong-way driving."
MassDOT has installed 16 wrong-way vehicle detection systems at various on and off-ramps across the state. They are also reviewing all the ramps that could be accessed in the wrong direction.