By Brandon Quester
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — When first-responders arrive on scene at traffic accidents, their concerns often are focused on more than the potential victims or vehicles involved.

For Karl Zunker, Laramie County Fire District 10 chief, that concern was validated Wednesday when he was struck by a tractor-trailer while responding to an accident on Interstate 80.

Zunker was in the process of blocking an off-ramp when his vehicle was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer traveling at an estimated 50 mph.

"I got about halfway up (the off-ramp), and every lighting device on the truck I had on, and was just getting ready to start backing up when I got hit," Zunker said.

Although his vehicle absorbed most of the impact from the accident, Zunker suffered injuries that required him to spend the afternoon in the hospital.

"I got some pretty nasty whiplash," Zunker said. "But the worst thing of it is that I'm still feeling a bit of numbing and tingling in my left side."

Further troubling, Zunker said, is the fact that this is not the first time he has dealt with being struck by oncoming traffic while on scene.

"This is the sixth one I've had," he said. "I've had four calls that were really close — I mean really close."

He added that worrying about other drivers passing an accident scene is beginning to make his job much more difficult.

Zunker said that every time he starts to feel confident about heading out to an accident, he almost gets hit.

During the last encounter, Zunker said, he was saved because the driver clipped a tractor-trailer before coming his way.

"I don't want to keep running and doing the dodge dance, trying to avoid people," he said. "I've gotten good at the dance, but I'm just tired of doing it.

"This time I was lucky. I was able to go home," Zunker said. "If it had of been 5 seconds earlier, he would have T-boned me going 50."

Stories of close calls and near misses are common among first-responders and Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers.

It's for this reason that the state's "move-over law" was enacted, said Doug McGee of the Wyoming Department of Transportation's public affairs department.

"When people don't slow down and give them the room to work, it's really dangerous for those folks," McGee said.

Still, in addition to the move-over law, Zunker said that he would like to see heavier penalties for violators.

"If anything, I would like to see stiffer penalties. If you hit one of them, you should have to pay a hefty fine - a huge fine," Zunker said. "Once we get hit and injured, we are no longer able to help the people we're there to help in the first place."

For the most part, Zunker said, he just wants people to slow down and pay attention when they are on the roads.

"It's getting pretty ridiculous — the driving habits of people anymore. Everybody is in such a rush," Zunker said. "I just want people to start paying attention when they're out there."

Although the driver of the tractor-trailer that struck Zunker on Wednesday did not reportedly receive any injuries from the accident, he was cited for speeds too fast for the day's road conditions. 

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