A Utah man driving the wrong way on Interstate 80 died over the weekend after colliding head-on with a semitrailer near Evanston.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol confirmed Monday that Duane Derrick, 40, of Logan, Utah, was driving a Chevy pickup the wrong way in the interstate at about 2 p.m. Saturday.

According to witnesses and evidence collected at the scene, Derrick was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes before the collision. 

He died at the scene, the WHP reports. The driver of the semitrailer was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol was not available for additional comment at the time of publication.

‘How Did He Not See Him?’

Paige Sequeira of Ogden, Utah, shot a video of the aftermath of Saturday’s accident as she was traveling along I-80. 

Her reaction and what she captured on her phone paints a harrowing picture.

The Chevy pickup was beyond totaled. The entire vehicle was smashed into a tangled mess of metal, with wheels nearly twisted off their axles.

The semitrailer was hundreds of feet away, having driven off the highway and down an embankment toward a housing development. 

Its forward engine and drive axle were nearly severed from the rest of the cab, a testament to the force of the impact.

The shoulder was covered with large debris from both vehicles.

Sequeria openly questioned, “How did he not see him?”

According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, both vehicles “reacted and swerved to the north shoulder, colliding head-on.” 

Derrick was wearing his seat belt when the collision happened, WHP reports.

Rough Start

Derrick’s death was the seventh fatality on Wyoming’s roadways so far in 2026. There were six fatalities at this point in 2025, and two in 2024.

Wyoming is already one of the deadliest states for trucking. 

Statistics compiled by the Truck Safety Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, show Wyoming had seven fatalities per 100,000 population in the last year, topping the list as the deadliest state.

According to the Wyoming Department of Transportation’s crash data, 90% of commercial motor vehicle crashes on I-80 involve non-Wyoming resident drivers, and 78% of those crashes happened during inclement weather.

Saturday’s crash was another on what truckers call “The Gauntlet,” the stretch of I-80 through Wyoming that runs between Evanston and Pine Bluffs. However, analyses like these are often skewed by Wyoming’s small population.

“In a rural state like Wyoming, with one of the smallest populations but some of the highest truck miles traveled per capita in the nation, even a small number of crashes can dramatically skew the results,” Kevin Hawley, president of the Wyoming Trucking Association, previously told Cowboy State Daily. “This makes Wyoming appear ‘deadlier’ than larger states with far higher crash totals.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.

SPRINGVILLE, Utah — Police arrested a man whom they say is a “habitual offender” of driving under the influence after he crashed into a patrol vehicle.

A Utah County Sheriff’s deputy said he was patrolling in Springville early Sunday morning when a pickup truck driven by Richard Andrew Roberson, 38, collided with his vehicle. The deputy said he was stopped at a stop sign when Roberson hit him from behind.

When the deputy approached Roberson’s vehicle at a nearby gas station, he said the suspect showed signs of being intoxicated and also smelled like alcohol. He agreed to a field sobriety test, during which the officer said he showed multiple signs of being impaired.

Roberson was then arrested, and police say a urine test showed positive results for alcohol and marijuana, while a blood test is pending.

Police said Roberson’s driver’s license from California is currently suspended, and his vehicle was not insured.

While looking into Roberson’s background, police say they discovered that he’s had “nearly a dozen” DUI charges or convictions across four different states. His most recent convictions were in 2016 and 2017 in another state, but his most recent DUI charges were a pair of incidents in Utah within the past two months.

The arresting officer wrote that these factors indicate that Roberson “is a habitual offender and is a danger to the public.”

Roberson was arrested for felony DUI, driving on a suspended license, and operating a vehicle without insurance. A judge denied bail.