Nine vehicles involved in Wednesday crash on Pass

[dinneR ★]

https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/cops_courts/local/nine-vehicles-involved-in-wednesday-crash-on-pass/article_cecbdada-ceea-5273-a0b6-b5a614788132.html

Wyoming Highway Patrol State Trooper Todd Baxter leap-frogged between related accidents Wednesday on Teton Pass in what ultimately became a crash between nine vehicles that slid into each other like dominoes.

According to Clayton Platt, investigations sergeant for the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, a call came in at 4:12 p.m. Wednesday to assist a stuck semitrailer. The call was primarily handled by Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Baxter said the truck was on Highway 22 headed over the mountain from Wilson when it lost traction and stopped moving near milepost 10. The license plates showed the truck was from the East Coast, Baxter said, and the driver was an Alabama man who had never seen snow.

 

 

“I told him to get out and put on his tire chains,” Baxter said. “The chains were really old. They were broken in some places and did not do us any good.”

Baxter called for a tow truck to pull the semi up to the top of the pass, at which point the driver could make it back down.

Then the rescuing tow truck ran into problems.

“When the tow vehicle got to the pullout around milepost 9, where all the snowmobilers park, to put on his chains, the tow truck started to slide,” Baxter said.

Wyoming Highway Patrol State Trooper Todd Baxter leap-frogged between related accidents Wednesday on Teton Pass in what ultimately became a crash between nine vehicles that slid into each other like dominoes.

According to Clayton Platt, investigations sergeant for the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, a call came in at 4:12 p.m. Wednesday to assist a stuck semitrailer. The call was primarily handled by Wyoming Highway Patrol.

Baxter said the truck was on Highway 22 headed over the mountain from Wilson when it lost traction and stopped moving near milepost 10. The license plates showed the truck was from the East Coast, Baxter said, and the driver was an Alabama man who had never seen snow.

 

 

“I told him to get out and put on his tire chains,” Baxter said. “The chains were really old. They were broken in some places and did not do us any good.”

Baxter called for a tow truck to pull the semi up to the top of the pass, at which point the driver could make it back down.

Then the rescuing tow truck ran into problems.

“When the tow vehicle got to the pullout around milepost 9, where all the snowmobilers park, to put on his chains, the tow truck started to slide,” Baxter said.

When Baxter heard the news, he left the semitrailer driver with another trooper who had arrived on scene to go assist the stuck tow truck. At that point, conditions on the pass were “as good as you expect it to be,” he said.

It was cold, snowing and slippery in spots, but Baxter said the plow driver on scene, Richard Wilson, was on the ball, laying down a lot of sand and other road treatment. However, the section of road where the tow truck driver pulled out to put chains on hadn’t been treated.

“When he elevated the rear tires to put the chains on, when the tires lifted up, it just slowly started sliding,” Baxter said.

It quickly became a domino effect of sliding into eight parked cars, luckily all of them empty while their owners were out riding snowmobiles.

The vehicles hit by the tow truck sustained varying degrees of damage, ranging from $500 to $10,000. Some had a broken rear light, another had a bent frame. On some vehicles, snowmobile loading ramps crinkled like accordions.

 

 

 

“Thank goodness there was no one in the pullout when the tow truck started sliding,” Baxter said. “We were very, very lucky.”

While the domino-like crash was being handled, the Alabama driver in the semitrailer received help from a different tow truck that arrived and was able to get over the pass.

The Alabama man was not in compliance with the trailer restriction law, and Baxter cited him for failure to obey signs. He didn’t recall the exact amount the man was fined, but said those fines can run up to $570.

“He admitted to having seen the signs [that the trailer restriction law was in effect], but by the time he realized he was going up the mountain there was no place for him to turn around is what he told me,” Baxter said. “But he saw the sign before the pullout at milepost 7, which is where he should have turned around.”

When asked if it would have been wise for the tow truck to chain up lower, Baxter said that the Ron’s Towing driver was in compliance and that he did not find fault with the driver’s actions.

“Him putting the chains on there was just fine,” Baxter said.

Baxter added that at the beginning of the call, while he was helping the stuck semi, he witnessed two other vehicles also in violation of the trailer law.

“There was another semi and a pick-up truck pulling a trailer with a couple cars on it,” Baxter said. “I couldn’t break away from what I was doing to go after them, so I called dispatch, and a deputy came up. He managed to stop at least one of those guys when they got off the mountain and into Wilson.

“It was a hectic, hectic day,” Baxter added.

He extolled the golden virtues when driving on Teton Pass: awareness and patience.

“Just be very aware of conditions on the pass,” he said. “Tires are key, and tire condition is a big issue. Also, be patient. There are a lot of people who aren’t from around here, and they just don’t know what the pass is like until they try to drive over. Don’t be in a rush to run around them. Wait to pass them in a safe area to pass.”

 

 

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

Wow, looks like SNAFU on the Teton Pass. 

[Razors Edge ★]

1 hour ago, dinneR said:

Then the rescuing tow truck ran into problems.

Did they check the plates on the tow truck and as the tow truck driver where he was from and if he had ever driven in snow?