TUMWATER, Wash. -- A woman who troopers say was "highly intoxicated" drove for 17 miles going the wrong way on Interstate 5 before she was finally stopped by troopers using spike strips early Tuesday.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Guy Gill said the 60-year-old woman got on I-5 near Tumwater going north in the southbound lanes.
Troopers followed her from the northbound lanes and tried flashing spotlights at her, but she didn't stop.
"At times she was reaching speeds over 100 mph," Gill said.
Troopers shut down the southbound lanes of I-5 in Tacoma to keep more drivers from heading into the woman's path. They then placed spike strips along the freeway near the main gate of Joint Base Lewis-McChord to bring the woman's car to a stop.
"We had several near-miss head-on collisions," Gill said. "It's amazing that we didn't have a collision at some point. Obviously no one going southbound is going to expect to see a vehicle coming northbound in their lane."
The woman was arrested for investigation of DUI and several other charges.
"She probably had no idea what was going on," Gill said.
