By Jeannette Boner
Jackson Hole News&Guide
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON — A 41-year-old Colorado man died Wednesday night in another crash on Teton Pass, intensifying calls for restrictions on heavy and high-risk vehicles one day after prosecutors charged a dump truck driver in the July collision that killed two people.

Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue identified the man as Javier De Luna Chavez. He was a passenger in a pickup hauling a pallet of rocks on a gooseneck trailer when the vehicle overturned near milepost seven.

The driver was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center and remained in serious condition Thursday evening. His name has not been publicly released.

Wyoming Highway Patrol spokesperson Aaron Brown said De Luna Chavez was not wearing a seat belt. The cause of the crash remained under investigation as of press time Thursday, he said.

The Ford F-250 was traveling east toward Wilson when it left the highway, entered a ditch and rolled several times before coming to rest, Brown said.

Kelly Halpin, a Wilson resident who was among the first people to reach the scene, said the driver told her while she assisted him that the truck’s brakes had failed.

The latest fatality occurred near the site of the July 7 crash that killed Nicholas “Nick” Besobrasow, 66, of Tetonia, Idaho, and David Page, 57, of Mammoth Lakes, California.

RELATED: DRIVER CHARGED IN FATAL TETON PASS CRASH – 

“It’s been more than a month since we lost Nick and Dave on Teton Pass,” said Gary Kofinas, the organizer of the citizen coalition Make Teton Pass Safer, on Thursday. “There have been multiple serious accidents since, including last night’s fatality.”

Kofinas acknowledged WYDOT’s efforts to install temporary warnings while the agency produces updated permanent signs but said more could be done immediately.

“Until more substantial measures are implemented, we believe there should be a moratorium on vehicles that present a hazard to the public,” Kofinas said. “That would include semitrailers, vehicles over a certain weight — 40,000 pounds — RVs and fifth-wheel trailers.”

He said restrictions should not prohibit travel by START buses or fishermen pulling drift boats but that “high-risk vehicles” should be required to take another route until significant safety measures are in place.

“These high-risk vehicles should go around until some significant actions are implemented,” he said.

Bob Hammond, resident engineer for the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s Jackson District, said restricting weight limits for certain vehicles and not all vehicles could be an enforcement nightmare, though.

“I’m of the opinion that vehicles can safely travel on the pass, and my job is to do what I can to educate everyone about how to do that safely,” Hammond said in an Aug. 24 interview.

“That decision of limiting certain types of vehicles comes with problems, and the biggest problem would be that the START bus would be not allowed to travel on the pass if we were to lower the weight limit to 40,000 pounds,” Hammond said.

He said that the public bus can run upward of 55,000 pounds.

Wednesday’s crash came a day after Teton County Prosecutor Dick Stout filed two misdemeanor counts of homicide by vehicle against Laiton George McMinn, 22, of Ririe, Idaho.

McMinn was driving an asphalt-laden dump truck east toward Wilson on July 7 when its brakes overheated and lost stopping power, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The fatal collision has been followed by a series of serious incidents involving RVs or vehicles pulling trailers on the eastbound descent.

About a week after the July 7 crash, an RV lost its brakes while traveling toward Wilson.

On Aug. 17, another RV pulling a trailer crossed the centerline, collided with an oncoming vehicle and struck a rock wall near the base of the pass. The motor home overturned with five family members inside, including an 11-year-old girl who was trapped and struggling to breathe.

Six days later, another motor home developed overheated brakes while descending toward Wilson. Its driver pulled over near the runaway truck ramp after smelling the brakes and had the RV towed down the remainder of the pass.

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