DENVER (KDVR) — A woman died nearly two weeks ago after a crash involving a moose on C-470 in Highlands Ranch, the Colorado State Patrol announced Thursday morning.
The crash happened on July 11 around 11:30 p.m. on the south metro highway between University Boulevard and Quebec Street, CSP said in a press release. A CSP crash dashboard shows the crash happened just south of David A. Lorenz Regional Park.
A driver traveling west on C-470 hit the moose, CSP said, which three other vehicles then hit. In one vehicle, the woman driving lost control, causing the fatal injuries.
CSP’s crash dashboard report shows the woman was 54 years old and not wearing a seatbelt. The data shows alcohol was not suspected in the crash, but drugs are suspected.
This wasn’t the only deadly crash involving an animal that happened this year, and the other one happened just over a week later and on the same highway.
Earlier this week on Sunday, a driver traveling east on C-470 swerved to avoid hitting a deer near Kipling Parkway, CSP reported. The vehicle went off the road and rolled, killing the driver.
“Drivers in the mountain communities know to expect wildlife, but these animals can show up in more unexpected locations everywhere in our state,” said Col. Matthew Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “Two of the most tragic crashes this year happened on C-470.”
This comes as CSP reports a rising trend in wildlife collisions in Colorado.
Over the past five years, Colorado has seen a steady increase in animal-involved crashes, with those crash types even being the No. 3 top causal factor of crashes in 2024, according to statistics
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