SWEETWATER COUNTY — Two individuals have died in two separate commercial truck crashes on Interstate 80 since last Friday in Sweetwater County, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol via the Wyoming Department of Transportation Fatal Crash Summary.
Safet Zornic, 56-year-old Idaho resident, died Monday, August 21, and Loren Brisco, 54-year-old Michigan resident, died on Friday, August 18.
Zornic was driving a Freightliner commercial vehicle Monday night in a single-lane construction zone on I-80 near Granger. The crash occurred at 6 p.m. near milepost 66, the crash summary states.
Zornic failed to negotiate a slight right-hand curve in the roadway, exited the interstate to the left, and re-entered the highway before overcorrecting to the left. This caused the vehicle to trip and slide on its passenger side, according to the crash summary.
The vehicle slid into a guardrail end where the guardrail pierced the vehicle. Zornic was not wearing a seatbelt at the time, the crash summary reports. Zornic died in the rollover crash. Road and weather conditions were dry and clear, and driver inattention and cell phone use are being considered as possible factors in the single-vehicle accident.
Brisco was killed after failing to negotiate the right-hand curve of the exit ramp when attempting to take exit 89 westbound into Green River, the crash summary reports. Brisco was driving a tractor-trailer combination.
The vehicle continued into the borrow ditch where the Michigan driver overcorrected back to the right, which caused the vehicle to flip onto the driver’s side.
This crash occurred at 1:23 a.m., Friday, August 18, and road conditions were dry and weather conditions were clear. Brisco was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, and speed is being considered a possible contributing factor, the crash summary states.
In both crashes, the drivers of the trucks were the only individuals involved. Zornic and Brisco were the 92nd and 93rd people to die on Wyoming’s roads in 2023. At the same time last year, there were 78 deaths on Wyoming roadways, 72 in 2021 and 81 in 2020, according to WYDOT.
