Seeing headlights coming toward you on a highway is already terrifying enough when they’re on the correct side of the road. Seeing them coming directly at you because someone is driving the wrong way is an entirely different story.
That’s exactly the situation a Norwalk, Connecticut, police officer recently found himself dealing with on Route 7. Officer Steven Anuszkiewicz spotted a wrong-way driver and took action before the situation could turn into a potentially deadly head-on collision.
To make the whole thing a little more interesting, the vehicle heading the wrong way appears to be a Tesla. You can probably already imagine what people had to say about that one.
Fortunately, Anuszkiewicz was able to safely stop the vehicle before anyone was seriously hurt. Considering the speeds involved on highways and the potential consequences of a wrong-way crash, this could have ended much differently.
Connecticut Cop Makes a Split-Second Move To Stop Wrong-Way Tesla
Please give the following video just a second to load up completely.
In the video, you can see Officer Anuszkiewicz taking chase while driving on the opposite side of a series of cones that acted as a barrier between him and oncoming cars. However, the car he was trying to catch up to was in a bit more of a dangerous position: going the wrong way on a busy highway.
The officer made a quick decision and turned into the traffic to indicate to the other driver to pull over. Unfortunately, additional information about the stop wasn’t made available. The post does make a point of saying, “A single impaired, distracted, or confused driver traveling in the wrong direction can put countless innocent lives at immediate risk.”
The post also highlights Officer Steven Anuszkiewicz’s behavior throughout the video, especially considering the danger he had put himself in to stop the driver, reading, “We want to recognize Officer Steven Anuszkiewicz for his courageous and decisive actions in safely stopping a wrong-way driver on Route 7. His quick thinking and commitment to protecting the public prevented what could have been a devastating tragedy.”
Commenters Question the Driver and the Road Setup
Commenters had plenty to say about the bizarre situation, and the fact that the vehicle appeared to be a Tesla certainly wasn’t lost on anyone. One person joked, “Smart cars don’t mean smart drivers,” while another simply wrote, “Of course it’s a Tesla.”
Others wondered whether the road itself may have contributed to the driver’s confusion. One viewer pointed to barrels visible in the footage, saying they appeared to extend partially into the travel lane and suggesting the driver might have mistakenly believed that the correct lane was closed.
Still, several viewers focused on just how frightening wrong-way drivers can be. One person said that after moving to Connecticut from New York City, their biggest transportation fear had shifted to finding themselves in a wrong-way driving situation, while another argued that a vehicle as technologically advanced as a Tesla should theoretically be able to detect when it’s traveling the wrong direction.
Then there were the people who simply wanted to know what happened after the stop. As one commenter put it, “We wanna see what they say after you pulled them over.” Considering how someone ended up traveling the wrong way on Route 7 in the first place, I can’t say I blame them.