Louisiana residents were reminded early Friday morning about the sheer destruction that one driver traveling the wrong way down the interstate can cause.

Right now, families are surely morning at the recent news of five people who were killed when a wrong-way driver crashed head-on into another vehicle on Interstate 10 in New Orleans. Right before the accident, Louisiana state troopers had heard reports regarding the wrong-way driver, but sadly could not stop the driver in time.

According to one state trooper, the car was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes and crashed head-on into the other vehicle. After the initial crash, an 18-wheeler unable to maneuver around the crash sideswiped the two cars. Another vehicle also hit the tractor-trailer. The drivers of those two vehicles also suffered from injuries in the crash.

As of now, it's still too early to tell what happened, and why the driver was traveling on the wrong side of the interstate. But, unfortunately, accidents like this do happen, and in some cases there are survivors and their lives are forever changed.

Even right now, two people are being described as suffering from "minor injuries," but that doesn't really describe what the extent of those injuries truly is. Sometimes an injury that seems like no big deal now, ends up turning into a nagging pain that can follow a person for the rest of their life.

In the end, this recent tragic accident highlights just how quickly an accident can happen and change people's lives forever.

Source: msnbc, "5 killed in wrong-way crash on I-10 in La.," Feb. 10, 2012