WILSON, Wyo. — An RV rollover on Teton Pass the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 14 that left one passenger dead and four others injured was caused by brake failure, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP).
A family of five, including a male driver, his wife, his brother, his mother and his mother-in-law, were driving east on the Pass from Idaho in an RV, when traffic slowed in front of the RV and the driver started tapping on his air brakes, Lieutenant Matt Brackin of WHP told Buckrail.
The brakes eventually overheated and stopped responding. The driver veered into the opposite oncoming lane to avoid hitting the cars in front of him, before trying to drive off the road into a field, at which point the RV tipped over and went into a roll.
The driver’s mother-in-law, from Nevada, was killed in the accident, Brackin said. The other four were taken to St. John’s in Jackson to treat their injuries.
The call-out notifying emergency responders of the incident came at 3:46 p.m. on Wednesday. Witnesses reported smoke coming from the RV, which had gone off the road near milepost 6.5, according to John Faicco, Sargent with Teton County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO).
Jackson Hole Fire/EMS was first on the scene at 3:52, Faicco reported. Deputies from TCSO arrived shortly after, along with Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP). Officials shut down WY22 in both directions shortly after arriving on scene so that emergency personnel could access the site more quickly. Air Idaho was called in for patient transport, but was not needed as the woman had died on scene. The coroner arrived on scene at about 5:15 p.m.
After clearing debris from the highway, officials reopened the pass until rush hour was over, at which point they closed it again for cleanup and to conduct an investigation, which is standard in the case of a traffic fatality.
The pass remained closed late into the night for cleanup before opening to traffic again at 11:15 p.m., according to an alert from the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT).
While the pass remained open, crews were still at the scene cleaning up the wreckage as of the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 15, according to Brackin.
Note: An earlier article on the Aug. 14 crash stated that six people were involved in the accident. This article reflects the correction that the incident involved five people, with four injured and one deceased.
