Wrong-Way Driver Arrested on Veterans Expressway

A 31-year-old Oldsmar woman found herself behind bars early Wednesday morning after she was spotted driving north on the Veterans Expressway’s southbound lanes near Gunn Highway.

According to an email from Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins, Trooper Ron Evans was patrolling the roadway near State Road 54 in Land O’ Lakes around 1:22 a.m. when he received a call about a white 2012 Nissan SUV going the wrong way. Evans, a 13-year patrol veteran, turned around waited for the wrong-way driver near Lutz Lake Fern Road heading southbound, Gaskins wrote.

Evans spotted the SUV moments later and pulled it over.

“Minutes later, Evans arrested an extremely intoxicated and disoriented Maria Bolivar, 31 of Oldsmar, for DUI and driving on the wrong side of a divided highway,” the email said.

Bolivar told Evans she was headed to her Oldsmar home from a bar along MacDill Avenue in Tampa.

She was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail, but refused to undergo a breath test, Gaskins said.

Bolivar’s arrest is the latest in a string of wrong-way incidents in the Tampa Bay area. Three fatal wrong-way crashes occurred over the summer and there have been a number of recent arrests, as well.

Photo Credit: Maria Bolivar/Hillsborough County Jail

See Also:

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• Wrong-Way Driver Collides with Ambulance in Fatal Crash
• Wrong-Way Driver Arrested in Clearwater
• Wrong-Way Driver Causes Fatal U.S. 301 Crash
• Chamberlain Teacher Arrested in I-75 Wrong-Way Driving Incident