Truck overturns on I-90, kills driver

A semi trailer carrying a load of soda pop products came off the road during last Monday's storm, unfortunately leading to the death of its driver. Weather conditions are believed to have caused of the crash.

The incident occurred on September 7 at approximately 7:20 p.m. and was located on I-90 eastbound at milepost 185, according to Lieutenant Tim Boumeester, Wyoming Highway Patrol.

"Weather conditions at the time of the crash were heavy snow, blowing snow," he says. "Road conditions were snow and slush covered."

The tractor-trailer was traveling eastbound on the interstate when the driver failed to negotiate a left-hand curve in the roadway and exited the road to the right, Boumeester says.

"Once off the roadway, the tractor trailer struck a guard rail," he says, then "Continued off the roadway and struck a large tree."

At that time, the power unit came to rest in the tree and the trailer that it was towing detached from the tractor and came to rest down at the bottom of the ditch, according to Boumeester.

"The driver was deceased at the scene," he says.

The load within the trailer was soda products, which were breached and scattered all over the ditch area. This necessitated a clean-up operation that took several hours.

"The road was closed from Moorcroft to Sundance eastbound only from that time until a few minutes after midnight," Boumeester says.