Driving after sundown on Wyoming roads during the fall means wildlife, weather and a total darkness headlights seem to disappear into.
Kassidy Thomas, 21, of Laramie had all three literally collide Sunday after stopping in Casper to see her parents on her way back from Cody. She left Casper and was driving on Highway 487 about 2 miles south of the rest stop as the road winds into Carbon County.
“A person had flashed their brights at me and I thought they were yelling at me that my brights were still on,” Thomas told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “I kind of ignored it and I looked back up, and there was a huge deer just looking right at me in the middle of the road.
“I swerved a little bit, so it hit more my passenger front.”
Airbags deployed and Thomas said her hazards were flashing, but the Nissan would not move. It was still in roadway with its front-end smashed in. To make matters worse, she was in one of the many reception dead zones for cellphone reception.
A lot can happen to someone stranded in the middle of nowhere at night without a lifeline to the outside world.
Fortunately for Thomas, the first person came came along behind her a few minutes later stopped.
That was J.D. Holman, 18, of Glenrock, a freshman at the University of Wyoming who is studying nursing. He was on his way back to school and stopped to see if he could help. He said he saw her hazard lights and glass all over the road.
“I had her put her car in neutral and pulled my car in behind her and pushed her off while she steered,” Holman said.
Then Holman drove down the road and up a hill to see if there was any service so he could call the local sheriff’s office.
There wasn’t.
Meanwhile, two other people stopped and checked to see if Thomas was OK.
SOS Button
“I decided that I should probably call Highway Patrol or someone, too,” she said. “I called 911 with the SOS service thing, because there was no service.”
She said she went to the SOS option by going to “Settings” on her car phone and selecting the “Emergency SOS” button. The directions tell the user to press and hold the side button and either volume button to make an emergency call.
Thomas said the first place the call went was the Rawlins Fire Department, and then she was transferred to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
After waiting, Holman offered to drive her toward Medicine Bow to see if they could find cell service so she could call her parents. On the way about 45 minutes after the crash, they saw the Wyoming Highway Patrol officer and flagged him down.
Thomas was able to go back to the scene and contact her parents through the highway patrol.
She and her mother, Glenda Thomas, said they are thankful for Holman stopping and rendering aid, and they worry about that stretch of highway.
“The scary part is that there are so many college kids that drive that road,” Glenda Thomas said.
Near midnight, she left to retrieve her daughter at the rest stop, being warned by the trooper to be on the lookout for deer and pronghorn.
The Natrona County Sheriff’s Office recommends that people in Wyoming always have an emergency kit in the car for situations where they may become stranded on a roadway.
Also, stay with your vehicle. To leave it means it will take more time for first responders to locate that person and put the motorist in danger if she becomes lost without shelter. Or worse, picked up by a stranger with criminal intentions.
Frank Groth, a retired police officer who lives in Gillette, agreed that remaining with the vehicle is important when there are no communication opportunities.
“Really if the car is disabled really the only thing you can do is walk, and that’s never a good idea when you are out in the middle of nowhere,” Groth said. “I would stay with the vehicle, put the flashers on and maybe raise the hood. Perhaps someone will take pity on you and call in when they can get cell coverage or stop and give you a hand.”
Staying inside the vehicle offers protection from the elements as well as potential predators of the human or animal variety, he said. He also agreed that it is important to carry water and snacks whenever making a long journey through the vacant countryside.
Provide Travel Route
Finding yourself in a situation like Kassidy Thomas is something people in Wyoming should consider, emergency responders say.
People traveling across remote parts of Wyoming should always provide someone with a travel route and expected time of arrival, Hett said. If someone’s overdue, share the timeline and route with first responders.
Hett said people without cell service should still text 911, because it may still have enough signal to transmit the message. Another idea would be to download the BackCountrySOS app that is used by backpackers, but also could be used by drivers. The app can be used to send GPS coordinates to 911 even without cell service.
For Kassidy Thomas, she said she had an emergency kit in the car provided by her father that includes jumper cables, a cellphone charger and air pump. Holman said he carries his own kit as well that includes a flashlight, food and an extra jacket.
Thomas said she is pretty sure her Nissan Rogue is totaled, and the incident has caused her to think more about preparation.
“I didn’t know when I was cleaning out my car to get everything out, I had two flashlights in my car, too,” she said. “I had some things, but definitely if I was stranded out there for days I wouldn’t last.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
