Information from a Utah trucker's onboard data-recording device supports an Idaho State Police calculation that the truck driver was speeding through a construction zone prior to an accident last summer that claimed the life of Hailey resident Dayle Evan Fowler.
Data from the device, referred to in an ISP report as an "ECM module," places truck driver Byrus Lyndon Gatewood's vehicle speed at 58 mph at the time his truck collided with Fowler's vehicle. The recorded 58 mph is 9 percent lower than an ISP accident reconstruction calculation that put the truck speed on impact at 63.74 mph.
Information from the device, more commonly referred to as a "black box," is contained in a probable-cause affidavit filed in the case by lead ISP investigator Cpl. Andrew Hitt. He testified at a court hearing last week that Gatewood told ISP investigators after the accident that the black box data was about 3 percent off. Hitt didn't testify whether the black box was recording speeds higher or lower than actual, but in either scenario the information confirms that Gatewood was driving faster than the 45 mph posted speed limit.
Gatewood, 47, of West Valley, Utah, is facing a felony vehicular manslaughter charge in Jerome County in the death of 62-year-old Fowler on U.S. Highway 93 about three miles north of its intersection with U.S. Highway 25 on June 28. The Jerome County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has alleged in a criminal complaint filed against Gatewood that the accident was caused because of Gatewood's "gross negligence."
Following a preliminary hearing on Jan. 6, Jerome County Magistrate Court Judge Thomas H. Borresen ordered that sufficient evidence existed to bind the case over to 5th District Court for further prosecution. District court arraignment for Gatewood is scheduled for Feb. 6.
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ISP investigators testified at the Jan. 6 preliminary hearing that Fowler was outside of her car, waiting in a line of vehicles for traffic to be directed through a construction work zone. They said Gatewood, driving a red Volvo tractor-trailer rig, plowed into Fowler and her car and then struck two other vehicles waiting ahead.
Investigators also testified that the construction zone, reducing the speed limit to 45 mph, started just south of the junction of Highways 93 and 25 but the actual work zone was about three miles farther north. Investigators allege that Gatewood ignored the posted speed restrictions and other warning signs and continued through the zone at speeds exceeding 60 mph until coming upon the line of stopped traffic.
In his affidavit, Cpl. Hitt reported Gatewood's speed from the black box data for almost a full minute before impacting the Fowler vehicle. According to the report, Gatewood was traveling at 64 mph at 59 seconds prior to the crash. The speed dropped to 60 mph at 49 seconds before impact and stayed in that range until 12 seconds before the accident.
Hitt reported that Gatewood's speed was 59 mph from 1-12 seconds before impact. At impact, the speed was 58 mph. One second later the speed was recorded at 37 mph. At two seconds after impact, the data show the truck moving at 5 mph, and at 3 seconds after impact the truck speed was recorded at zero.
ISP accident reconstruction specialist Cpl. Troy Debie testified at the Jan 6 hearing that he did not use data from the truck black box in calculating Gatewood's speed. Instead, Debie said, he based his calculations mainly on the distance the Fowler vehicle was knocked after being hit by the truck.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Dayle Evan Fowler
