ROCK SPRINGS — A 23-year-old Rock Springs man died from injures sustained after a head-on collision with a semi truck on February 3.
According to Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Lt. B. Schlosser, on February 3, around 1:30 pm, troopers responded to a call of a passenger vehicle involved in a head-on collision with a semi truck on County Road 15, which is also known as Nine Mile Road. The area where the accident occurred is north of Point of Rocks toward the Jim Bridger Power Plant.
Oil City News reported that “According to a WHP preliminary report, Chad Collard, 23, was heading southbound on County Road 15 in an Impala when the vehicle crossed the center lane into the northbound lane into the path of an oncoming Sterling combination unit.”
Lt. Schlosser said after the passenger vehicle crossed center lane it struck the 1998 Sterling Conventional tractor-trailer at an offset head-on collision.
According to the WHP website, both drivers of the vehicles were wearing their seatbelts, however Collard was still ejected from the vehicle.
“Due to the severity of the impact and damage to the Impala, the driver’s seatbelt of the Impala was torn free from the car and the driver came to rest lying next to the vehicle,” the WHP preliminary report stated.
The driver of the Sterling has been identified as 59-year-old Rock Springs, Wyoming, resident Harold J. Underwood. Underwood was wearing a seatbelt and transported to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County for injuries he sustained in the crash.
Underwood was treated and released for minor injuries, Lt. Schlosser said.
The road was closed off both directions for about four to five hours until the wreck was cleared, Lt. Schlosser said.
Road conditions at the time of the accident were dry and clear, Lt. Schlosser said. Fatigue or distracted driving on the part of Collard is being investigated as a potential contributing factor.
This is the 14th fatality on Wyoming’s roadways in 2021 compared to 5 in 2020, 14 in 2019, and 6 in 2018 to date.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
