Wyoming Man Killed After Crashing UTV While Moving Cattle

A Fort Laramie man is dead after crashing his UTV west of town, the Wyoming Highway Patrol says.

Sgt. Jeremy Beck says the crash happened around 8:46 a.m. yesterday, Jan. 18, near mile marker 29.5 on U.S. Highway 26.

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Beck says 84-year-old Maurice E. Jepson was helping move cattle in the area and was headed west on the Service Road that runs parallel to the railroad tracks when he failed to notice a mound of gravel on the roadway and hit it, overturning his UTV.

Jepson was not wearing his seat belt and died at the scene.

Beck says the roadway was covered in snow at the time of the crash.

Driver inattention is being investigated as a possible contributing factor.

This is the fifth fatality on Wyoming’s roadways in 2023 compared to one in 2022, eight in 2021, two in 2020, and seven in 2019 to date.

2022's Deadliest Wyoming County by Traffic Deaths

While car crashes can occur anywhere, some roads in Wyoming are more dangerous than others.

According to Wyoming Highway Patrol data, there were 117 fatal crashes in the Cowboy State in 2022 resulting in 133 deaths.

Of those fatal crashes, the majority (13.68%) occurred in Laramie County -- two in January, one in February, one in March, two in April, one in June, two in July, three in August, two in September, one in November, and one in December.

Sweetwater County saw the second most fatal crashes last year, 12, while Fremont and Lincoln counties each saw 10.

Albany and Park counties each recorded eight, and Campbell, Converse, and Natrona counties each tallied seven.

The deadliest 2022 crash in Laramie County took place on June 17 when two semis collided on Interstate 80 east of Cheyenne and immediately became engulfed in flames killing both drivers and a passenger.

Laramie County also saw two fatal crashes involving motorcyclists, two fatal crashes involving juveniles, and a fatal crash involving a pedestrian last year.

Below is the Wyoming Highway Patrol narrative of every fatal crash that occurred in Laramie County in 2022.

Source: Wyoming Man Killed After Crashing UTV While Moving Cattle