Wichita woman killed in I-135 crash drove the wrong way for miles, trooper says

The 58-year Wichita woman who died in an I-135 crash Thursday drove the wrong way for miles on area highways before causing a head-on collision, Kansas Highway Patrol master trooper Phillip Metzen said Friday.

Robin S. Buckman was killed when the Ford Ranger she drove northbound in the southbound lane hit a Ford F-350 driven by a 31-year-old Valley Center man. He had minor injuries, according to the KHP crash log.

The collision happened just before 6 a.m. near 53rd Street North in Park City. Buckman was first reported driving the wrong way while headed west in the eastbound lane of K-96 near Hillside, which is about four miles away, Metzen said. Metzen said they believe she got on the wrong way of K-96 at Woodlawn, meaning she drove nearly six miles in the wrong direction.

“The reason she was going the wrong way … has a lot to do with disorientation,” Metzen said, adding the “family indicated her nature” about being disoriented.

Drugs and alcohol are not suspected factors in the crash, he said.

Initial injuries reported at the accident were one person who was code black and another who was code blue. Code black means the person died; code blue means the person is unresponsive. Metzen said the code black and code blue were the same person.

The Valley Center man had a bloody nose and scratches from the truck flipping, but did not want to be taken to the hospital, Metzen said.