RENTON, Wash. — A fiery freeway crash overnight in Renton resulted in a DUI arrest.
A WSDOT camera captured the car as it burst into flames along I-405, just north of SR 167.
WSP says the driver, a 24-year-old woman, was going north in southbound lanes.
“It could have been a lot worse, obviously,” said Trooper Rick Johnson. “Thankfully, not a lot of traffic coming the other way – ended up hitting a WSDOT sign near a construction zone.”
The road was shut down as fire crews arrived and quickly put out the fire. The driver safely got out but was then arrested for DUI.
“The troopers saw signs of impairment, and with traveling the wrong way at freeway speeds, we’re just happy that there were no injuries to her or any construction workers in the area,” said Johnson.
The crash happened just hours before a previously scheduled annual ceremony in Lacey focusing on work zone safety and honoring the memory of 61 WSDOT employees killed on the job since 1950.
Highway maintenance worker Josh Quilici was driving a snowplow on I-90 in January when he was hit by a drunk driver and hospitalized.
“I was pretty paranoid afterward. I was looking over my shoulder a lot more. When you’re driving, please think of other people – think if that was your family member out there,” said Quilici.
“All these are preventable – 100 percent – and it’s the choices people are making to get behind the wheel when they’re impaired,” said Johnson.
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