I don't know how much time you have spent in the visual control tower at night, but it is not easy sometimes to even see an aircraft let alone be certain where it actually is on closely located runways.
True, but there have been two other instances at LEX where a jet incorrectly lined up on 26 instead of 22, and in both cases ATC detected and alerted the flight crews.
In fact one of the incidents happened shortly after the Comair crash in similar conditions. A small Lear 45 was taking off at night and turned to the wrong runway. An alert controller saw it and immediately cancelled the Lear's takeoff clearance.
As reported by the controller:
ASRS ACN: 722668
Date : 200701
Local Time Of Day : 1801-2400
Locale Reference.Airport : LEX.Airport
Flight Conditions : VMC
Light : Night
Narrative (LEX.Tower):
LJ45 TURNED ONTO RWY 26 AFTER GIVEN A TKOF CLRNC ON RWY 22. AN IMMEDIATE CORRECTION WAS MADE BY ALERTING OF THE WRONG RWY -- BEFORE TKOF ROLL BEGAN. TO PREVENT A RECURRENCE SUCH AS THIS ONE, INCLUDE IN THE TKOF CLRNC FOR RWY 22 TO CROSS RWY 26.
Synopsis
LEX CTLR DESCRIBED AN ATTEMPT BY AN LJ45 FLT CREW TO TAKE OFF ON THE WRONG RWY AS THEY TURNED ONTO RWY 26 WHEN RWY 22 WAS ISSUED.