News – Sheridan Media
There were a number of deadly crashes on Interstate 80 in southern Wyoming this past weekend, one of which killed five people from Arkansas after a wrong-way driver caused a chain of events.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol says just before 7pm this past Sunday (January 22nd), troopers were notified of a driver going east in the west-bound lanes of I-80.
A few minutes later there was a collision involving the wrong-way driver and several other vehicles about four miles east of Rawlins.
Preliminary information revealed the driver collided his vehicle with a commercial truck and a passenger car, both of which were traveling west-bound.
Another west-bound commercial truck attempted to avoid the wrong-way driver’s vehicle as it was crashing, and went through the median into the east-bound lanes and collided head-on with an east-bound vehicle.
Both vehicles involved in the head-on collision immediately became engulfed in flames.
All five occupants of the vehicle in the east-bound lanes were fatally injured in the crash.
Some of the other motorists involved in the collision were transported to hospitals with critical injuries.
The wrong-way driver has been arrested on suspicion of impairment.
The investigation is still on-going and future charges are pending.
There were also two separate fatal wrecks on I-80 between Evanston and Green River this past weekend, bringing the fatality count to eight.
One died Saturday afternoon when the vehicle he was in went out of control and crashed.
Two others died before sunrise on Sunday, when the truck they were in, slid down an embankment.
So far this year there have been 12 fatalities on Wyoming roadways, compared to one this time last year, eight in 2021 and three in 2020.
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Last modified: January 24, 2023