A fatal wrong way car accident that involved the deaths of five people occurred last Friday outside of New Orleans. Recently, wrong way accidents have started to become a concern among law enforcement departments across the country. Though it is not clear what caused the wrong way driver on Friday to travel in the incorrect direction, some wrong way car accidents are caused by drinking and driving.

Early last Friday morning a driver in a Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling east in the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 outside LaPlace, Louisiana. Around 3 a.m. the driver traveling the wrong direction crashed with another vehicle head-on. The Jeep Grand Cherokee burst into flames. The vehicle that was hit had four people inside. The driver of the Jeep and the four people in the vehicle the Jeep hit died at the scene of the accident.

After the head-on collision occurred, a semi sideswiped the car accident scene and another vehicle hit the tractor-trailer. The drivers of the semi and the vehicle suffered minor injuries.

The four people who were traveling in the vehicle hit by the Jeep ranged in age from 30 to 19. The two people in the front of the vehicle were wearing seat belts and the passengers in the back were not.

The Louisiana State Police said they received multiple reports of the wrong way drive just before the deadly crash occurred. At this point, investigators have not determined why the driver of the Jeep entered the highway the wrong way.

Source: The Washington Post, "Trooper: Five killed in wrong-way crash on Interstate 10 in Louisiana outside New Orleans," Feb. 10, 2012