Distracted driving leads to two deaths

Two Flathead County women are dead after a pair of single-vehicle crashes in the past four days that both were attributed to distracted driving.

Laureen Emmert of Columbia Falls died Tuesday afternoon following a crash on Interstate 90 south of Sheridan, Wyo. Kim Yost of Somers died after a crash Wednesday night west of Kalispell.

Officials said that Emmert, 53, and her husband, Rodney, 54, crashed into a ravine while traveling to Colorado Springs, Colo.

She had been steering from the passenger seat as Rodney Emmert bent over to look for something. Authorities say they went off the road at about 75 mph and landed in a deep ravine where they weren’t easily visible. The couple were stuck in the mangled car for nearly 24 hours.

Concerned relatives were able to reach Rodney Emmert by cell phone. He gave a very general location during a brief phone call Wednesday morning.

Authorities began looking for them and, three hours later, a highway construction worker spotted the car in the ravine.

In a separate accident, Yost, 36, died shortly after her Suzuki Grand Vitara veered off U.S. 2 West as she traveled east near Lower Thompson Lake west of Kalispell at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Neil Duram said Yost was with her three daughters — ages 15, 11 and 8 — and was the only one in the vehicle not wearing her seat belt.

Based on evidence and witness statements, Duram said Yost likely was reaching for an item in the glove box when she lost control of the vehicle.

“She drifted over the right edge of the road, overcorrected and after a couple more overcorrections her vehicle rolled over in the roadway,” Duram said.

The vehicle came to rest on a guardrail.

Yost was tossed some 40 feet from the vehicle. She was transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center where she was pronounced dead less than an hour after the crash.

“It’s another tragic lesson on wearing a seat belt,” Duram said.

Her three daughters were transported to the hospital with minor injuries and later released to a friend of the family.