These two posts are ripped from JeepsUnlimited.com. I think you need an account there to read them, though.

More on recent Imogene Pass death...

More information on the recent death on Imogene Pass, from the Ouray Plaindealer:
  • Killed were Daniel Gluklick, 50 and Jeanine Gluklick, 47, of Colorado Springs. Injured were their son, Cole, 11, and family friend Ian Nordstrom, 7. Last week Cole was listed in critical condition and Ian in serious but stable condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, CO.
  • The Gluklick's 1998 Grand Cherokee was traveling from Telluride to Ouray. The driver had apparently pulled over onto a steep embankment to allow an oncoming vehicle to pass. As the vehicle turned back onto the road, it may have hit a large rock or dropped into a hole. The vehicle went off-balance and rolled onto its top and kept rolling and fell more than 1,300 feet off the side of the trail.
  • Witnesses say the vehicle rolled for about 70 feet, then started to flip end over end and "exploded."
  • The vehicle appeared to witnesses to be overloaded and top heavy, with a lot of equipment on a roof rack, that investigators believe may have increased its instability.


Ouray County Commissioners think about changes in wake of deaths...

With the two recent deaths in the San Juans in the past few weeks (one on Black Bear, one on Imogene), the Ouray County Commisioners have been investigating what changes could be made to make wheeling, an inherently dangerous activity safer.

So far their recommendations fall into a few distinct categories:
  • A more prominent educational campaign on the risks of off-road driving, particularly information made available at local Jeep rental agencies
  • Signs warning of the risks that lie ahead on the trail
  • Making Imogene Pass one-way only, from Telluride to Ouray

Note that neither of the deaths were in rental Jeeps; the deaths on Black Bear were in a 2003 TJ Rubicon and the ones on Imogene were in a 1998 Grand Cherokee.
Currently support is running very high for the last suggestion, already the most common route as many people and tour companies already run Black Bear into Telluride and Imogene back to Ouray...