The North Texas Tollway Authority has announced it will launch a pilot programme on its highways to test an in-ground sensor-based system that can automatically detect vehicles heading the wrong way.

The system will use sensors embedded in the pavement and will alert the Department of Public Safety when a vehicle is moving the wrong way.

The system is already in operation in the city of Houston on a ten-mile segment of its toll roads.

The move is part of steps announced by the agency to prevent wrong-way crashes in the state.