The Wyoming Highway Patrol says an elderly Fort Laramie man was killed about 8:45 Wednesday morning when his UTV crashed west of the town Hwy Patrol Sgt Jeremy Beck says 84-year-old Maurice Jepson was helping move cattle.
Sgt Beck says Jepson was driving west on the Service Road that parallels both railroad tracks and Hwy 26 when he failed to notice a mound of gravel on the roadway. He hit it and his UTV overturned. He was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene.
Beck says the service road was covered in snow at the time of the crash, and that driver inattention is being investigated as a possible contributing factor.
Maurice Jepson was the 5th person to die on roadways so far this year. Fatality totals in early January have varied greatly in recent years. In 2019, there were 7 deaths by Jan 18, followed by 2 in 2020, 8 in 2021, and just 1 last year.