Living in Wyoming, we all know the dangers of driving in high wind. Even low-profile vehicles can get blown off the road.
On Monday, however, it was one of those days were numerous vehicles fell victim to the February winds.
First it was the Amazon semi that nearly blew off a bridge south of Chugwater on I-25.
Later in the day, a wind gust toppled another 18-wheeler but this time on Wyoming Highway 85 which makes its way through Hawk Springs, Torrington, and Lingle.
But the difference in this wreck is that someone’s dashcam was on and recorded the incident.
“This was intense to watch and a complete fluke to have captured on film this afternoon,” Beth Wood said. “Driver is ok. Thank you to the good people, volunteer fire departments, and dispatch today!”
“PSA: Wyoming’s wind is NO joke! Use caution, people,” she said.
Wood told Cowboy State Daily that she set-up her dashcam so she could show her kids what ‘sleeping semis’ (a phrase describing turned-over 18-wheelers) look like.
“It was a complete fluke that I got behind the semi that blew over in the video, simply because I was trying to get other footage for the kids,” Wood said.
“Growing up in southeast Wyoming I’ve seen lots of ‘sleeping semi’s’ on the side of the road, but have never witnessed it with my own eyes. My heart was definitely doing double time!”
Wood said as soon as her car stopped, she got on the phone and called 911 while two other motorists ran to check on the driver.
“While on the phone with dispatch, I saw one of the good folks jump up on the tipped over cab and pop the drivers door open and talk to the driver,” Wood said.
“A few minutes later another fellow came and told me the driver was ok and that they’d got the windshield broke out so the driver could get out,” she said.
Once EMS showed up, Wood took off because she said there was nothing else she could do.
“I left because my fiancé is on the Hawk Springs V.F.D. and nothing is more frustrating than the “extra” people who get in the way simply because they are ‘lookie-loos’” she said.
What’s crazy about this accident is that the truck blew over at nearly the same spot as another did earlier in the day.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation said 60+mph crosswinds will make an “extreme blowover event” like again Monday evening and Tuesday.
