A pre-dawn, wrong-way crash on the Southwest side of San Antonio early Sunday turned deadly when two vehicles slammed into each other and erupted in flames on the eastbound lanes of Loop 410 near Military Drive. The collision happened around 5:30 a.m., shutting down part of the highway and drawing a large emergency response.
According to the San Antonio Police Department, officers had already gotten calls about a wrong-way driver shortly before the crash. By the time crews reached the scene, both vehicles were fully engulfed in fire and everyone inside had been pronounced dead, officials told News 4 San Antonio. Authorities did not immediately say how many people were inside each vehicle, and the victims had not yet been identified.
Scene and Investigation
Both vehicles involved were fully engulfed in flames,
the station reported, describing a scene that kept detectives out on the highway through the morning as they tried to piece together how the wrong-way trip began and how long the vehicle had been traveling against traffic.
The San Antonio Police Department told News 4 San Antonio that calls about a wrong-way driver started coming in shortly before the collision. Investigators are reviewing those reports along with physical evidence from the roadway as part of their ongoing probe.
Why Wrong-Way Crashes Are So Deadly
Wrong-way collisions are relatively rare, but when they happen on high-speed, divided highways, they are far more likely to be fatal and head-on than most other types of crashes, according to traffic safety researchers.
A recent analysis by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that fatal wrong-way crashes on divided highways rose from 278 in 2014 to 520 in 2023. Over that same 2014 to 2023 period, Texas recorded 894 deaths linked to wrong-way driving on divided roads.
Local Countermeasures And What Can Help
State and local transportation agencies have been testing a range of engineering and detection tools, from bigger and brighter signs and flashing LED markers to radar-triggered wrong-way alerts that feed into traffic management centers, according to a review by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
The Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, has also been advancing projects in the Military Drive area, including a planned diverging-diamond interchange at I-37 and SE Military Drive. Officials say that design is intended to reduce confusing turn movements and risky entries near Loop 410 by tightening up how drivers move through the intersection.
Police said the investigation into Sunday’s fiery wreck is still underway and that more information, including the number of victims and their identities, will be released once it is confirmed and next of kin are notified.
