Milwaukee County judge has close call with wrong-way driver

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee County judge recently had a close call with a wrong way driver on the freeway. 

Milwaukee Municipal Court Judge Valarie Hill was driving home on May 18 when she came upon danger near I-41/45 and Capitol Drive. 

"I see a car off to my right on the shoulder and all of a sudden the car does a U-turn on the freeway and its headed directly toward me, so I'm now in the path of a wrong way driver," said Judge Hill. 

The judge laid on her horn, but that didn't work. So she swerved out of the car's path to safety and called 911. 

"You literally see your life there in front of you. You're in a car, all you see is headlights coming toward you," Judge Hill said.  

The wrong-way driving incident is one of many so far this year. 

A Milwaukee County Inspector says there have been 52 confirmed wrong-way driving incidents so far this year. 

Of those, 13 people were arrested for OWI, including the driver who almost hit Judge Hill. 

"The wrong-way driving is primarily OWI related. So the message is really obvious, don't drive drunk," Inspector Daniel Hughes with the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said. 

There are sensors on some freeway ramps throughout Milwaukee that alert law enforcement if someone got on the wrong way, but many people correct themselves before officers track them down. 

Law enforcement will be increasing patrols looking for drunk, reckless, and wrong way drivers over the holiday weekend. 

Judge Hill was lucky, but not everyone is. 

"Angels were on my shoulder that day because clearly, things could have ended up worse," said Judge Hill.