Buckle up! '100 deadliest days of summer' started Memorial Day weekend

JACKSON (WNE) — While Memorial Day is a time of remembrance, it also marks the unofficial start of summer — a season that, unfortunately, often brings increased tragedy to roads and highways.

The epithet of “100 Deadliest Days” – from Memorial Day to Labor Day – is far more than just a seasonal cliché. This stretch marks one of the most dangerous periods on U.S. roads, driven by increased travel, summer festivities and a rise in reckless or impaired driving.

“Every crash has consequences that ripple through our communities,” Idaho Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Zweigart said in a news release. “These aren’t just numbers — they represent lives forever changed because of poor choices behind the wheel.”

In Wyoming, Idaho and across the nation, highway fatalities consistently spike during the summer months, claiming hundreds of lives that might have otherwise been saved with caution, sobriety and seat belts.

In recent years, Wyoming has experienced fluctuations in annual traffic fatalities. Between 2021 and 2024, an average of 124 people died a year on state highways, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

As of Monday, there have been 36 fatalities on Wyoming highways. That includes a 79-year-old Alpine woman who died recently in a Snake River Canyon crash.

In 2023, 45 deaths were related to passengers and drivers not wearing seat belts, 27 fatalities were related to alcohol-impaired driving, 46 fatalities involved high speeds and 15 fatalities involved motorcyclists, according to WYDOT’s 2023 Annual Report.

“Driving is a serious responsibility,” Zweigart said. “Your decisions on the road don’t just affect you — they affect everyone around you.”

This story was published on May 27, 2025.