CHEYENNE - Wyoming's churning energy economy has yielded riches for entrepreneurs, tax wealth for the state and lots of jobs. It may also be making state highways more dangerous.

Highways in the state's energy regions are busier than ever, frequently traveled by heavy equipment - and workers who sometimes put in long hours on little sleep.

Many of those workers are considered to be the riskiest kind of driver - young men willing to take chances and reluctant to wear seat belts.

They're also bringing more alcohol and drugs onto the highways, and they gobble up hotel rooms, forcing sleepy travelers in some cases to stay behind the wheel.

"There definitely are a lot of guys who are pushing the envelope," said Brian Bragonier, a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper who was stationed near the heart of one of the state's busiest natural gas fields at Wamsutter.

Bragonier, who first served the Wamsutter area back in 1999, noticed major changes in traffic patterns when he returned in 2006.

"The traffic increase on Highway 789 from Creston Junction to Baggs is just incredible - I would say it's at least 10 fold of what it was back in 1999," Bragonier said.

He also noticed an increase in the number of fatigued drivers. After finishing a 12- or 15-hour day, tired workers, he said, sometimes drive two hours to reach their hotels or man camps.

On weekends, many nonresident workers travel to other parts of the state or country, sometimes hitting the road after enduring marathon work weeks.

"I've stopped guys who are driving from the Baggs area up to Spokane, Washington, every week or down to Phoenix, Arizona, every week," Bragonier said. "They get off the rig at, say, 7 in the morning, after their final shift, and get behind the wheel and push it."

"There is also a huge problem in the oil and gas industry with controlled substance abuse and alcohol abuse and drinking and driving and drugged driving and things like that," he said. "That all ties into the young, risk-taking population that's working out there."

The number of crashes in Wyoming caused by fatigued drivers or those who fell asleep at the wheel edged up only slightly between 2002 and 2006, from 393 to 406, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

But that doesn't take into account the fact that nonresident workers driving home on the weekends sometimes fall asleep after they cross the state line.

"In those particular cases, we might not be seeing the crashes here in Wyoming," Bragonier said. "They might make it outside of Wyoming and might not crash until they get a little closer to where they are going."

A state official in April blamed the state's high ranking for worker deaths on the number of work-related traffic crashes.

Wyoming ranked No. 1 for per-capita job fatalities in 2005, with 16.8 deaths per 100,000 workers, or 46 deaths.

"Twenty-five of those (46 Wyoming deaths) were transportation-related …," J.D. Danni, state Department of Employment OSHA program manager, told The Associated Press.

According to a AFL-CIO report, the number of Wyoming workers who died in highway fatalities between 2000 and 2005 grew by 47 percent, from 17 to 25.

Driving off the road or failing to stay in one's lane - characteristics of sleepy and fatigued drivers - are among the leading factors of traffic fatalities and injury in the state, according to WYDOT.

And crashes caused by fatigued or sleepy drivers tend to be fatal more often than other crash types.

While just 2 to 3 percent of all crashes during the last 10 years were caused by falling asleep or fatigue, those factors contributed to 12.5 percent of fatal crashes, state figures show.

Tim Feiertag, a 36-year-old from Kansas City, was traveling across Wyoming earlier this summer on Interstate 80 when he discovered the state's lack of overnight lodging.

After trying unsuccessfully to find a room in Green River and Rock Springs, Feiertag joined several other people trying to sleep in their cars at a rest stop near Superior.

Overnight camping is not allowed at Wyoming rest areas, but the state does allow drivers to nap as long as they do not pitch tents, level RVs or extend awnings or pop-outs.

Unable to fall asleep, Feiertag and a passenger drove straight through to Cheyenne, arriving exhausted at 6 a.m.

Spooked by the idea that he was not the only tired driver on the highway, he reported his concern to Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office and to tourism officials.

"This is not just a Wyoming problem," Feiertag said. "Everyone traveling that corridor will be encountering these drowsy drivers."

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.