You'd be surprised at how often people end up driving the wrong way on New Mexico roads, and while it might seem like it, they're not always drunk, said Sgt. Doug Bolich of the New Mexico State Police.

Scott Owens, a suspected drunken driver, has been accused of going down the wrong lane of Old Las Vegas Highway and crashing into a car, killing four Santa Fe teenagers and seriously injuring a fifth early Sunday morning.

But while wrong-way driving is often the result of drunken driving, sometimes people just get confused, Bolich said.

"Driving on the wrong side of the road — it's a constant problem," Bolich said. "We see it at least once or twice a week. And they're not always drunk. Sometimes we have elderly drivers that don't see so well at night, and sometimes people just get confused and think they're heading for a frontage road but accidentally end up on the highway."

Driver's education and defensive driving classes all teach a standard procedure to deal with the situation, said Andrew Kowach, a driving safety instructor at A-1 Driver Safety in Santa Fe.

"If you see somebody going the wrong way toward you, first, decelerate, take your foot off the gas and head to the right-hand shoulder," Kowach said. "If you know you're going to hit, we teach something called 'every inch off center.' In that, you want to turn as much as you can to avoid a head-to-head impact."

The worst thing you can do if you see somebody heading straight for you is to freak out, grit your teeth and do nothing, he added.

"Often people panic, close their eyes and hope for the best," Kowach said. "What they need to do is steer to the right as much as possible, even if you're going to hit. You never want to go to the left, because often the other driver will try to correct and head back to their lane."

There's not a lot of reaction time when two cars are heading straight for each other at high speed, but knowing what to do can save your life and make damage less severe, Bolich said.

"One thing I've noticed on the interstates is that a lot of times intoxicated drivers end up driving the wrong way on that inner fast lane," Bolich said. "That happens especially at night. We see that from La Cienega to Eldorado and even as far as Glorieta. If you see that, try to get out of the path as quickly as possible, pull over to the shoulder, and make sure you signal that you're going to the shoulder."

In a quick calculation, if the drivers in Sunday's crash were heading toward each other at 50 mph and saw each other at a distance of about 50 yards, each driver would only have one second to react, Kowach said.

"The gap between them would be closing at 100 miles per hour," Kowach said. "And one thing that worries me in this state is that most of our highways and roads don't have dividers to prevent things like that."

And if you get confused and find yourself going the wrong way on the highway, the best thing to do is pull over as quickly as possible and stop your car, Bolich said.

"If you have the opportunity and that happens, wait until it's safe and then turn your vehicle in the right direction," Bolich said. "The main thing is to wait until its safe. If it's not safe, then call 911. The police will be happy to help you get turned around in the right direction."

Turning to the right might not have been much of an option in this case. At the location of the crash, there is a narrow shoulder and at the edge of it a wire cable barrier to prevent cars from going into the brush.

Besides methods of turning to the right, drivers education classes in Santa Fe also teach teenagers an acronym to help them drive more cautiously, said Naomi Salazar, owner of the Chamisa School of Driving.

That method is SIPDE, which stands for Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide and Execute, she said.

"Scan constantly, keep your eyes moving when you drive," Salazar said. "Identify any problem you see, predict how that problem is going to affect your driving — whether it's an animal in your path, a stalled car or something else. Decide what is the safest action, and then execute, do that action."

If you're aimed at a head-on collision, pull to the right; and if you're going off the road, aim for something soft, like a bush, she said.

"You might damage the car, but you save a life," Salazar said. "You've got to be prepared, you've got to think, and you've got to know that you're in control of the car. The hardest part of all that, though, is trying to figure out what the other driver is going to do."

Defensive-driving classes, and a program Kowach runs called Alive at 25, are often used only when courts force people to go, but the classes can also be good refreshers and can teach some aspects of driving that aren't covered in driver's education, Kowach said.

"They can be good refreshers, and you really don't need to get a ticket before you take a class," Kowach said.

Specially aimed at people ages 16-21, the Alive at 25 program teaches young drivers how do deal with things like peer pressure, distracting passengers, bad impulsive behavior and other factors, Kowach said.

In the class, kids use role playing to experience various situations, he said.

"It's different than driver's education in that it deals with behaviors, and not just rules of the road," Kowach said.

At his school, that class is one eight-hour session and costs $40. The defensive driving class for older drivers is one six-hour session and costs $45, Kowach said.

Since Sunday's accident, many Santa Fe parents have called to express concerns about their young drivers, and while there is always reason for concern, there is no reason to panic, Salazar said.

"Parents are very worried, but every time we see something like that in the newspaper, we talk to the kids about it in class," Salazar said. "We teach them that everything you do behind the wheel, every action has a consequence. Be careful. That's the way it is, and that's also a bit like life."

Contact Sue Vorenberg at svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.