VictimsGuide • Wyoming Crash Investigation

Crash Investigation & Evidence Preservation

A police report is an important starting point, but a serious crash should be investigated from the underlying physical, electronic, witness, medical and insurance evidence before that evidence disappears.

Investigate the Evidence — Not Merely the Conclusion Determine what happened from the scene, vehicles, witnesses, video, electronic data and surrounding circumstances. Then apply Wyoming negligence and comparative-fault law to those facts.

At the Scene: Safety Comes First

Wyoming law requires drivers involved in qualifying crashes to stop, provide identifying information, render reasonable assistance to injured persons and notify law enforcement when statutory reporting conditions are met.

Evidence collection comes after immediate medical and roadway safety.

Serious Injury Can Be Hidden at the Scene

Shock, adrenaline, concussion and other trauma can affect a person's perception immediately after impact.

Do not sacrifice needed medical evaluation merely to photograph the crash scene.

The Crash Investigation Workflow

Protect life and safety. Call emergency services, render reasonable assistance and avoid creating a second collision.

Identify everyone involved. Drivers, passengers, vehicle owners, employers and witnesses.

Document the scene. Photograph roadway geometry, vehicles, debris, markings, controls, weather and sight lines.

Preserve the vehicles. Prevent repair, salvage or destruction before material physical and electronic evidence can be inspected where necessary.

Preserve electronic evidence. Dashcam, surveillance, phone, app, GPS, EDR, fleet and telematics evidence can disappear quickly.

Interview witnesses. Preserve independent observations before memories deteriorate or witnesses become difficult to locate.

Obtain the law-enforcement investigation. Use the report to identify evidence, witnesses and investigative leads rather than treating the officer's fault conclusion as the complete civil case.

Connect injury evidence to the crash. Preserve emergency, diagnostic and follow-up medical documentation.

Investigate vehicle use and insurance. Ownership, employment, commercial use, rideshare activity and other policies can change both liability and recovery.

Reconstruct and allocate fault. Only after the evidence is assembled should comparative fault and legal responsibility be evaluated.

Photograph More Than Vehicle Damage

Roadway

lane markings
intersection geometry
shoulders
curves and grades
traffic controls
sight distance

Surface Evidence

skid marks
yaw marks
tire tracks
gouges
fluid
debris

Environment

snow
ice
rain
sun position
lighting
visibility

Vehicle Positions

point of impact
final resting position
vehicle orientation
crush direction
occupant compartment
airbag deployment

Time Changes the Scene

Snow melts. Skid marks fade. Debris is swept away. Vehicles are towed. Cameras overwrite recordings.

Evidence that exists during the first hours after a collision may no longer exist a week later.

Preserve the Vehicles

A damaged vehicle can itself be evidence.

Evidence Source	Possible Information
Exterior Damage	Impact direction, overlap, crush and contact geometry.
Tires & Wheels	Condition, failure, steering and roadway interaction.
Braking / Steering	Mechanical condition where genuinely relevant to causation.
Airbag / Restraints	Deployment and occupant-restraint information.
Electronic Modules	Potential pre-crash and crash-event information depending on the vehicle and system.

Inspect Before Destruction

If a serious liability, defect or reconstruction issue is foreseeable, consider written preservation notice before a vehicle is repaired, auctioned, salvaged or destroyed.

Wyoming recognizes that destruction of material evidence can create serious evidentiary and procedural consequences.

Preserve Electronic Evidence Quickly

dashcam video
body-camera video
intersection cameras
business surveillance
residential cameras
event data recorder
airbag control module
GPS history
navigation data
fleet telematics
electronic logging device
rideshare application
delivery application
cell-phone records
text messages
call logs
dispatch messages
vehicle-connected services

Ask Who Controls the Data The driver may not control every electronic record. Evidence may instead be held by an employer, fleet operator, rideshare platform, delivery company, vehicle manufacturer, telematics vendor, business owner or governmental agency.

Witness Investigation

Preserve independent witness information before memories fade.

Start with an open narrative:

“Tell me everything you remember.” Ask what the witness observed beginning immediately before the vehicles first attracted attention and continuing through their final positions.

Then clarify speed, lane position, signals, braking, traffic controls, visibility and other details without supplying the desired answer.

The Police Report Is an Investigative Roadmap

Obtain the complete law-enforcement materials when available, including supplements, diagrams, photographs and associated records.

Use them to locate:

witnesses
measurements
skid marks
roadway conditions
vehicle positions
photographs
driver statements
insurance information
investigating officers
potential reconstruction evidence

The Officer's Report Does Not Decide Civil Negligence

Wyoming law limits use of statutorily required crash reports themselves as evidence of negligence or due care.

Underlying facts, photographs, measurements, witnesses and independently admissible evidence should therefore be developed separately.

Crash Report vs. Underlying Evidence

Item	Investigation Approach
Officer fault conclusion	Treat as an investigative lead; independently analyze civil fault.
Skid-mark measurement	Preserve photographs, measurements and foundational evidence.
Witness listed in report	Locate and interview the witness independently.
Vehicle location	Confirm through photographs, measurements, diagrams and other evidence.
Speed estimate	Determine the physical evidence and methodology supporting it.
Insurance information	Verify with the carrier and investigate additional policies.

Reconstruction Comes Before Fault Labels

Establish as accurately as possible:

direction of travel
vehicle speed
lane position
traffic control
sight distance
driver perception
reaction opportunity
braking
steering
impact geometry
post-impact movement
road condition

Then ask whether each driver's conduct was reasonable under the circumstances.

Right of Way Does Not End Comparative Fault

A driver possessing the statutory right of way must still use reasonable care.

Wyoming's 2026 Bunning decision demonstrates that speeding and unsafe driving can support substantial comparative fault even when another driver failed to yield.

Loss of Control Does Not Automatically Prove Negligence

Investigate the circumstances before assuming that a driver who crossed the centerline or lost control necessarily acted negligently.

Relevant evidence can include:

ice and weather;
road warnings;
speed before the hazard;
visibility;
tire condition;
prior knowledge of conditions; and
available reaction time.

Medical Causation Begins With the First Records

Preserve the chronology connecting the crash to injury.

Crash symptoms. Record what was experienced immediately after impact.

Emergency evaluation. Preserve EMS, emergency department and imaging records.

Diagnostic development. Track later diagnoses and whether they medically relate to the collision.

Prior conditions. Distinguish preexisting disease or injury from crash-caused aggravation or new injury.

Future consequences. Preserve prognosis, restrictions, impairment and anticipated care.

Investigate Why the Vehicle Was Being Driven

Vehicle use can change both liability and insurance.

personal trip
commute
work errand
delivery
commercial trip
rideshare availability
accepted rideshare trip
rental vehicle
borrowed vehicle
government duty
employer ownership
fleet operation

Fault Investigation and Coverage Investigation Should Run Together Discovering that the driver was working, ridesharing, borrowing the vehicle or operating for a public entity can alter both who is legally responsible and which insurance policies apply.

Complete Evidence Preservation Checklist

scene photographs
scene video
vehicle photographs
roadway measurements
skid/yaw evidence
debris field
traffic controls
weather records
witness identities
witness statements
911 audio
dispatch records
police photographs
body-camera video
dash-camera video
surveillance video
vehicle preservation
EDR/electronic data
GPS
fleet telematics
ELD records
TNC app records
cell-phone evidence
EMS records
medical records
vehicle ownership
driver employment
insurance policies
umbrella/excess coverage
preservation letters

Leading Wyoming Authorities

Oberson v. Shreeve, 1983 WY 129, 672 P.2d 1294 Illustrates comparative allocation of fault between drivers rather than treating one driver's statutory violation as automatically dispositive.

Roberts v. Estate of Randall, 2002 WY 115, 51 P.3d 204 Preserves sudden emergency as a circumstance within the reasonable-care analysis while emphasizing that the claimed emergency cannot be negligently created by the driver invoking it.

Abraham v. Great Western Energy, 2004 WY 145, 101 P.3d 446 Cross-line Wyoming evidence-preservation authority discussing spoliation, prejudice and proportionate sanctions when important physical evidence is altered or destroyed.

McGuire v. Solis Recognizes the distinction between using law-enforcement reports themselves as proof of negligence and an accident-reconstruction expert relying on underlying report information as part of the foundation for reconstruction opinions.

Cardenas v. Fossen, 2024 WY 117 Confirms that the occurrence of a collision or loss of vehicle control does not itself compel a negligence finding where the circumstances support more than one reasonable inference.

Bunning v. Romero, 2026 WY 40 Current Wyoming automobile authority demonstrating the importance of speed evidence, skid marks, witness observations, right of way and comparative fault in reconstructing civil liability.