39-year-old man arrested for DWI after allegedly driving wrong way on Westpark Tollway

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Another wrong-way driver on the Westpark Tollway was arrested after allegedly leading deputies on a 12-mile chase last week.

The Harris County Constable's Office Precinct 5 arrested 39-year-old Arthur Elton Jefferson, charged with driving while intoxicated and evading arrest.

In the early morning of Oct. 16, deputies said they were alerted of a wrong-way driver on the toll road at Post Oak. The driver was going westbound in the eastbound lanes at a high speed, authorities said.

Pct. 5 deputies said they tried multiple times to get his attention, but nothing seemed to work, prompting a pursuit that reportedly lasted 12 miles.

The constable's office also shared traffic camera footage showing the driver going the wrong way for some time. Deputies finally got him to stop by putting out spike strips, and thankfully, there were no crashes or injuries.

This is just one of several cases involving wrong-way drivers in the area.

"You can pretty much see two to three accidents a week here, and on the tollway, you see like two a week," Natalia Herrera, manager of a business near the Westpark Tollway, told ABC13 in December of last year. This was after Harris County Toll Road Authority officials said they received an alert through their detection system alerting them of a wrong-way driver in that same tollway near the Post Oak exit ramp.

There have been many demands to do something that would reduce the risks of it happening, specifically on tollways.

READ MORE: Many demand improvements as wrong-way crashes become major concern on Westpark Tollway

No one was hurt in the most recent wrong-way driving incident, but this has become a growing concern for some people who are demanding improvement.

The Harris County Toll Road Authority has had a wrong-way detection system in place for years. But even so, last December, ABC13 reported there were at least six deadly crashes on the Westpark Tollway within that previous 12-month period.

Earlier this year, in February, a woman was caught on video driving the wrong way on the Grand Parkway, hitting two cars, including a Harris County Sheriff's deputy's vehicle.

She, too, was charged with DWI, and no one was seriously hurt in that crash.

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