Why Don’t Drivers Heed These Wyoming Signs?

Each year, the tally of wrecks on Wyoming's highways is significant.

Commercial trucks are involved in over 1,500 crashes annually on Wyoming highways, a number driven by severe weather and high traffic on I-80.

Icy roads and high winds are just a couple of the reasons for this high number of wrecks, injuries, and fatalities.

To be fair, it's not just the truckers. Vehicles of all types are out there on Wyoming roads when they should have just stayed home.

It's not that the Wyoming Highway Patrol isn't out there trying to slow these trucks down or even get them off the road when conditions are bad. But Wyoming roads are long, and we don't have enough patrolmen to cover the territory.

We've tried everything we can think of when conditions are bad. We even have HUGE electric signs over the interstates telling of road conditions and when those roads are off-limits to trucks, trailers, and RVs. But people drive right under those signs and just keep going. WHY?

Police hand out expensive citations to anyone they can pull over who is driving in those conditions when they were told not to.

We even have crossing guards, so we can close our roads when it gets so bad that nobody in their right mind should be out there.

So why do so many NOT listen?

When I moved to Wyoming about 17 years ago, I learned quickly to check weather and road conditions before I drove across the state. I have canceled trips because I did not trust the weather. Sure, I probably could have made it. But I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone.

There is a term I've heard which is useful - "Get-there-itis" (or plan continuation bias) is a dangerous aviation phenomenon where pilots, driven by pressure or desire, continue a flight despite worsening weather or hazards. This cognitive bias causes them to disregard safety risks and ignore new information, often leading to fatal accidents.

So, I'll ask again, what else can we do when road conditions are beyond bad, but people want to push through anyway? Or do we just let them learn the hard way? Letting them learn the hard way costs the taxpayers a lot and puts our first responders at risk as well.

It’s a sign most drivers seem to ignore. Even with the warning posted, big, boxy vehicles of all sizes were still out on the road.

Past Douglas, the quartering tailwind shifted into a direct crosswind, and that’s when things started to get ugly.

The first blown-over vehicles appeared south of Wheatland, but before Chugwater. In that stretch of highway, the Wyoming Department of Transportation has long posted warning signs and windsocks because the winds there can be brutal year-round. On this day, three trucks had already been tipped over in that very area.

By the time we passed through, emergency crews had already completed their rescue work. The truck cabs had been hauled away, but the trailers remained behind, waiting to be removed later.

Each one had been marked with a large “X,” a signal to other crews that the vehicle had already been checked and handled.

The wind only intensified as we approached Chugwater. That’s where we spotted a toppled Target trailer.

We stopped to visit friends in Chugwater at the Tri-County-Mercantile. One of the shop’s owners is also a school bus driver, and she told me there would be no bus routes running that day. Everything had been canceled because of the wind.

The next wreck we saw involved a rental moving van that had just made it over the Chugwater overpass on the interstate. That overpass is notorious for tossing vehicles around on windy days like this. The driver lost control just past the other side.

They almost made it.

Wasn't there a sign that warned these drivers to stay off the road?

OH YEAH! There was.

That 80mph was soon updated to 85mph, and then beyond.

Our phones let out a yell for a weather warning. Here is what we heard and what the text read.

This was correct. Visibility was low.

For some reason, most of these wrecks were in the Southbound Lane.

The next few were beyond Chugwater, where the crosswinds were recorded at 110mph and beyond.

What you see below is a billboard, just north of Cheyenne.

The sign cover had been ripped off and was violently blowing against the fencing. Thankfully, it did not blow across the highway into a vehicle.

We arrived in Cheyenne to find the wind had left its mark across the city. Trees were down in several areas, and along Capitol Avenue a bank clock had been shattered, its pieces scattered on the ground below.

There was a little damage done to the radio station vehicle. The front license plate had been bent from the crosswinds. That is impressive.