Highway Patrol: truck overweight in fatal crash

Florita Vega, 35, died Tuesday night when a tractor-trailer driven by her husband Gilberto Riojas crashed on a runaway truck ramp on Teton Pass. Riojas, 44, was in good condition at a local hospital.

The Associated Press

10/31/2008

JACKSON, Wyo. — The Wyoming Highway Patrol says a truck involved in a fatal crash on Teton Pass was overloaded.

Florita Vega, 35, died Tuesday night when a tractor-trailer driven by her husband Gilberto Riojas crashed on a runaway truck ramp on Teton Pass. Riojas, 44, was in good condition at a local hospital. The couple was from Texas.

Trooper Andrew Jackson of the Wyoming Highway Patrol says the semitrailer was 18,000 pounds heaver than the 60,000-pound weight limit for Teton Pass. He says the truck was eastbound when its brakes failed at about 9:40 p.m.

Jackson says the weight limit is meant to keep heavy trucks off the road because the steep grade can be too much for their brakes.