A coroner has found speed, alcohol and not wearing a seatbelt contributed to the death of a north-west Tasmanian footballer who crashed his car into a dam.
The 38-year-old man, who is not named in the findings, died on Back Line Road near Forest on the night of August 26, 2023.
He lived in Smithton with his wife and three children and played for and was an assistant coach at the Forest-Stanley Football Club.
The findings say he played a reserves game at Ulverstone that afternoon before attending the club’s best and fairest count in Stanley that evening.
He had planned a quiet night with a couple of beers but drank beer and premixed spirits at the event.
At 9:25pm, he went to an end-of-season party at a friend’s home in Forest, where he continued drinking.
The host had told guests who were drinking to bring a swag and stay overnight.
A friend had also arranged to drive the man home, but he left the party without telling anyone.
Around 11pm, a resident saw his Ford Territory heading west towards an S-bend on Back Line Road at a “dangerously high speed”.
Crash investigators calculated the car was travelling at least 156km/h. The bend could be safely negotiated at up to 101km/h.
The car crossed onto the wrong side of the road and slid about 70 metres across gravel and grass before going down an embankment, rolling several times and coming to rest in a dam.
The man was not wearing a seatbelt. His body was found in the dam the following morning.
Police found no mechanical faults with the car.
The findings note the man had previous offences for speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and drink-driving.
Coroner Leigh Mackey said the death was a “devastating loss” for his young family.
She said it “serves as a stark reminder of the known dangers of driving a vehicle whilst impaired by intoxication and at speed”.
She found other arrangements were available to get him home safely and there were “no imperatives” for him to speed.
A safety barrier has since been installed where the car left the road under the federal government’s Black Spot Program.
