JACKSON, Wyo. — A Monday morning car crash serves as a reminder to give other vehicles on the road plenty of space, especially when traveling at a high rate of speed.
Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) Officer Arron Healy confirmed collision details with Buckrail on Monday afternoon. At 7:05 a.m., a truck towing a trailer was traveling southbound on US89. When a vehicle driving ahead of the truck braked, the truck driver swerved to avoid hitting the braking car. To avoid the highway guardrail, the truck driver swerved to the left, causing the vehicle to roll over and jackknife across highway lanes.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) issued a driver alert at 7:19 a.m. warning that all lanes were closed on US89 near milepost 158. An alert at 9:41 a.m. said the incident had been cleared.
According to Officer Healy, no injuries were reported in the crash. He said the collision offers a “really good reminder to give yourself plenty of room to brake.”
Healy advised following the “two-second rule” to allow enough of a following distance cushion between vehicles.
WYDOT defines the two-second rule like this: “Scan ahead for a fixed point such as a pole, shadow, or pavement marking. When the rear bumper of the vehicle ahead passes the fixed point, start counting the number of seconds it takes you to reach the same point. Count, ‘one thousand and one, one thousand and two.’ If the front of your vehicle passes the fixed point before you count off two seconds, you are too close to the vehicle ahead.”
WYDOT also notes that drivers should count two seconds of following distance for each 20 feet of vehicle length. Bus drivers should count four seconds, and tractor-trailer drivers should stay “at least six seconds back,” WYDOT’s website states. All drivers, regardless of vehicle type, are advised to double the number of seconds when roads are wet, triple the number of seconds when roads are snow-covered, and quadruple the number of seconds when roads are ice-covered.
“Please don’t think of your vehicle as a time machine,” Healy said. “You will not get there faster.”
