Two people died in separate car crashes overnight Saturday on the Loop 202 in the Valley, state police officials confirmed.
The first involved a vehicle traveling the wrong way on the freeway near Recker Road in Mesa. The wreck involved two vehicles, and one person died, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. That occurred about 11 p.m. Saturday.
Multiple people were also taken to hospitals after the crash, according to the Mesa Fire & Medical Department.
State police confirmed that about two hours later, there was another crash in the westbound lanes of the Loop 2002 in Phoenix. That crash was also fatal and occurred near the 44th Street exit, state officials said.
Freeway lanes were closed for about two hours and opened by 9 a.m., according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Wrong-way driving violations were reported in 13 fatal crashes in Arizona in 2023, according to ADOT crash data. There were 1,197 fatal crashes in the state that year.
Several years ago, state leaders took steps to reduce the number of crashes caused by people driving the wrong way in traffic.
In 2018, lawmakers and then Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, stiffened penalties for wrong-way drivers who were impaired, and ADOT spent about $4 million by 2018 to install a camera system to detect wrong-way drivers on Interstate 17, The Arizona Republic has reported.
The experimental system included notifications to law enforcement and signs warning drivers.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 1 killed in wrong-way crash on Loop 202 in Mesa