An elderly woman driving in the wrong direction on Interstate 275 was pulled over early Thursday morning.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the 71-year-old woman was driving north in the southbound lanes on the highway just before 4:30 a.m.
Eddie Heitner, a traffic supervisor, was working on I-275 near Hillsborough Avenue when he spotted the woman's blue 2011 Nissan sedan driving the wrong way.
"I noticed a set of headlights traveling the wrong way, close to the barrier wall," Heitner said.
Heitner said he turned his truck's flashing light on and slowed down to try and get the woman's attention.
"I moved onto the left shoulder and we were approaching each other," he said. "She ended up stopping about 6 feet away from the front of my truck."
The woman, from Brandon, was not intoxicated, troopers said. Her driving in the wrong direction was blamed on her being lost and confused.
"She rolled the window down and she was very concerned," Heitner said. "She said 'I have to get to my sister and take her to the airport,' I told her well, you are not going to do it that way."
The woman was pulled over before crashing into anything. There were no injuries. It was unclear how long she was driving in the wrong direction.
Troopers responded to the scene as well and helped get the woman back home. No charges were filed.
More wrong way signs have been put up since the recent spike in the number of drivers going the wrong way, and now the Florida Department of Transportation is looking into adding more signs that would grab drivers' attention.
"We have a new flashing sign on Fowler Avenue on the northbound," said FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson. "We are also going to be adding more of these signs to Fletcher and Bearss Avenue. Again, they are big red and white sign of flash that if a wrong way driver goes up these ramps."
FDOT will then see if the flash is effective as well as make changes to pavement marking to make sure there is no confusion.
The flashing lights by Fletcher and Bearss Avenue will be installed in January.