A 65-year-old truck driver died after losing control of his vehicle while travelling at “excessive speed” on a gravel road on Tasmania’s east coast, a coronial inquest has found.
David John McIntosh was killed in the crash on Semmens Road, north of St Marys, on November 15, 2022.
Coroner Simon Cooper said the truck careered down a steep section of road, hit a clay bank and then slammed into a rock wall.
The inquest heard McIntosh, who had an exemplary 30-year driving record, was covering for a sick colleague and driving a route he knew well when he veered off the road.
A witness told the inquest he saw the truck coming towards him on the steepest part of Semmens Road and could see the driver “fighting the steering” with the wheel in “full left-hand down motion”.
“He said he had to accelerate to avoid being hit by the truck as it passed his vehicle,” the coroner noted, with the witness describing the truck as “totally out of control”.
McIntosh had made several phone calls that morning to his operations manager about an air leak affecting gear selection, with his final call at 8:07am reporting he could hear air escaping from a previously repaired section.
A vehicle inspector from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator told the inquest the truck would have been considered “mechanically sound and roadworthy”, with the leak only affecting low-range gears and not the brakes.
Cooper said police found McIntosh’s phone was in use at the time of the crash, though it remains unclear whether he was using it hands-free.
The coroner found no evidence that alcohol, drugs or a medical event contributed to the crash and ruled that weather and road conditions were not factors.
“The accident occurred when Mr McIntosh lost control of his vehicle,” Cooper said.
“He was, in my view on the evidence, travelling at a speed which was excessive for the circumstances.”
