An elderly woman driving the wrong way in the car pool lane of Interstate 5 gave morning commuters a surprise for 15 minutes Monday until she turned around.
No one was hurt and there was no report of traffic collisions, said California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Preissman.
“It appears she was an elderly driver who may have been confused,” Preissman told The Signal Monday morning.
The incident began shortly after 9 a.m. when the driver of a red Toyota was seen driving southbound in the northbound HOV – or car pool lane – near Roxford Street, he said.
“She was southbound in the northbound HOV lane,” Preissman said.
“At some point she turned around and corrected her driving, then started traveling northbound in the northbound lanes of Highway 14,” he said.
The driver got off the highway at Newhall Avenue exit but then got back on Highway 14 at Newhall, traveling south in the southbound lanes.
Preissman said the driver had been observed driving in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes.
CHP officers were expected to catch up with the driver and question her, he said.
“There are too many variables to explain how it happened,” he said. “She may have been confused. She could be under the influence. We don’t know. There are many variables.”
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