A coroner has released his findings into the death of an elderly Tasmanian man who was killed after crashing into trees on Bridport Road early last year.
James Charles Smith, 75, succumbed to blunt trauma to the chest at the Launceston General Hospital ten days after he veered off the north-west road on March 3, 2023.
Coroner Simon Cooper said Smith had only been eight minutes into his journey to the same hospital he would later be transported to, having just left his home on the same road for an operation he required on his knees.
Cooper said that at around 6:20am, two passing motorists extracted Smith from his 1990 Toyota Cressida and began CPR until an ambulance arrived, but described his injuries as “too severe to survive”.
He said there was no evidence suggesting the involvement of another person in the crash or any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
“There is no evidence that alcohol or drugs, excessive speed, mechanical deficiency, road or weather conditions contributed to the happening of the crash,” Cooper said.
“The most likely explanation is that the crash which caused the injuries which claimed Mr Smith’s life was a result of him suffering a medical event, likely cardiac in nature.”
While Smith was wearing a seatbelt, his vehicle did not have an SRS airbag system and investigators found “no evidence” of braking in the seconds leading up to the crash.
“I convey my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr Smith,” Cooper said.
