Deadly crashes are occurring at an unprecedented pace along the stretch of U.S. 95 between Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint. In the past 15 years, this rural route has seen three fatal accidents in a single year only twice — once in 2020, and now in 2025. But this year is just a few months old.
The most recent fatality occurred on April 14 in a fiery three-car collision in the 495000 block of U.S. 95 in Boundary County. Bob Copeland, 50, of Naples, was killed in the crash, and his 13-year-old son was airlifted to an area hospital with internal bleeding and a fractured pelvis, according to mother Maygen Reid in a 9b News report.
Copeland was rear-ended heading south from Bonners Ferry, which forced his Chevrolet pickup truck into the northbound lane, where it collided with a Honda pickup truck and burst into flames, according to the Idaho State Police report. The passenger in the Honda, a 72-year-old woman from Coeur d’Alene, sustained unspecified injuries and was taken to an area hospital via ambulance…