A bus driver is dead after rear-ending a semi on Interstate 80, the Wyoming Highway Patrol says.

It happened around midnight on Wednesday, May 17, at milepost 273.6, just east of Arlington.

Wyoming Highway Patrol
Wyoming Highway Patrol
loading...
Get our free mobile app

According to a fatality crash summary, an eastbound semi was traveling about 40 to 45 mph in the right lane with its hazard lights on and was clearing a hillcrest when 75-year-old Louisiana resident John Brown, who was driving behind the semi in a commercial-style bus, rear-ended it.

Brown, who was not wearing his seat belt, was ejected through the front windshield and died from his injuries.

The driver of the semi and a passenger were not injured in the collision.

The summary says driver inattention and cell phone use possibly contributed to the crash.

This is the 49th fatality on Wyoming's highways in 2023 compared to 33 in 2022, 37 in 2021, 31 in 2020, and 64 in 2019 to date, and the 16th fatality on I-80 so far this year.

READ MORE:

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.

More From K2 Radio