In less than a year, there have been two fatal head-on collisions involving wrong-way drivers on the Westpark Toll Road. In both cases, a wrong-way detection system did not trigger an alert.
“I’ll never see my daughter again, I won’t see her get married, have children,” said Lindsay Locke.
Locke’s daughter, Jaelyn Chapman, was killed by a wrong-way driver on the Westpark Toll Road in April of 2021. Chapman was a popular R&B singer who went by the name ‘JaeRene’.
“She released her first album at 17, self-written R&B, it has almost a million streams,” said Locke.
Locke said her daughter’s final album, ‘JaeRene Unfinished,’ was released Feb. 22, her birthday.
“I’m hoping that the excitement, from being able to release her album and share her music and share her gift with everyone will maybe soften the blow for everyone a little bit, you know, to help us through the first birthday without her,” said Locke.
Police said Bobby James Brown, 33, was intoxicated when he got on the Westpark Toll Road going the wrong direction. Investigators said Brown missed several wrong-way signs as he entered the tollway from Post Oak at Richmond and then drove 3.5 miles before hitting Chapman’s car. Brown is charged with intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault since three other people were seriously injured in the crash.
According to officials with the Harris County Toll Road Authority, wrong way detection sensors at the Post Oak location had been turned off for two and-a-half years because of near-by freeway construction. KPRC 2 reported HCTRA turned the sensors back on the same day we asked why the system didn’t notify them of a wrong-way driver.
“Is that a good enough answer for you?” asked KPRC 2 Investigator Robert Arnold.
“No, that’s a partial answer,” said Locke.
Less than a year after Chapman was killed, another wrong-way driver on the Westpark Toll Road caused a fatal accident in January. Precinct 5 deputy constables reported Eric Haynes was believed to be going 75 miles-per-hour when he slammed into a private ambulance; killing himself and paramedic Sarah Junell, as well as critically injuring a passenger in his car and another paramedic in the ambulance. The accident occurred near the Fondren exit and Precinct 5 officials said Haynes got on the tollway going the wrong way from the Post Oak exit. The distance between the two points is 4.5 miles.
“He was on the inside lane, lane 1, I was in lane 2, before you know it I had an (expletive) moment,” said Lyft driver, Jose Lazo.
Lazo said had to pull a quick maneuver to avoid getting hit by the driver. He dialed 911 and found out later what happened.
“There’s a fatality and I’m like, ‘man, that’s the guy that almost hit me,’” Lazo said he told a friend who called him about the accident. “My concern was like, I thought they had detections on the Westpark.”
Precinct 5 officials said the wrong way detection system didn’t trigger an alert when Haynes entered the toll road.
“That’s a big concern for us because, this is going to happen again,” said Lazo.
When KPRC 2 Investigates asked HCTRA why the system didn’t trigger an alert, we were told officials couldn’t comment because of pending litigation involving Chapman’s crash and “HCTRA’s contractor is still reviewing the Wrong Way Detection system itself.”
HCTRA officials did say the system is “tested on a weekly, monthly, and bi-annual basis.”
In the past, the toll road authority answered questions following wrong-way crashes, including after a 2017 fatal crash when sensors didn’t pick-up on a wrong-way driver getting on the Westpark at Eldridge Parkway.
“With all this technology we should know when people are coming the wrong way,” said Lazo. “I mean what else is not working that we’re, the taxpayers are paying all this money for.”
HCTRA’s wrong-way detection system went online in 2008. The system is 13.2 miles long with 18 sensors that use radar to detect wrong way drivers. There are several wrong-way signs surrounded by flashing lights positioned at exit ramps. The sensors are also designed to alert HCTRA’s incident command when a wrong way driver enters the toll road. HCTRA then notifies law enforcement and uses a network of cameras to pinpoint the location of the wrong-way driver. HCTRA will also use the large message signs along the toll road to warn other drivers to be on the lookout for a wrong-way driver.
While the system is not a cure all, HCTRA reports it has helped turn around dozens of wrong-way drivers and led to the arrest of several drunken drivers. HCTRA reports there have been a total of six wrong-way crashes on the Westpark since 2013. The initial system was installed at a cost of $337,000 and won an award in 2009 from the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association. In 2011, the system received a $175,000 upgrade.
“In 2015, the entire system received an entire upgrade at an estimated value of $1,252,703,” HCTRA officials wrote in a statement to KPRC 2.