A motorcyclist who crossed double white lines on a bend and collided with an oncoming car had ‘underestimated’ the corner, a Tasmanian coroner has found.
55-year-old Hilton Lindsay Chilcott, of Cluan in the Meander Valley, died on the Arthur Highway near Eaglehawk Neck on December 28, 2023.
Chilcott and his wife were riding home from a holiday in the state’s south when the crash happened.
He was riding a 2009 Victory Kingpin, with his wife as a pillion passenger.
While negotiating a sweeping bend between Blowhole Road and Taranna, Chilcott crossed double white lines into the westbound lane and collided with a Mitsubishi ASX.
The car’s driver, who was on her way to work at Port Arthur, had “insufficient opportunity” to avoid him, Coroner Leigh Mackey found.
Chilcott suffered multiple pelvic and limb injuries. Members of the public and paramedics tried to save him, but he died at the scene. His wife and the other driver were also injured.
Coroner Mackey found neither driver was affected by alcohol or illicit drugs and the woman was travelling lawfully in her lane.
A therapeutic level of the antihistamine promethazine was detected in Chilcott’s blood, but the coroner found it was unlikely to have contributed to the crash because he used it regularly without ill effects.
There was no evidence Chilcott was speeding.
At the time, the 100km/h bend had no warning or advisory speed signs and Chilcott was likely unfamiliar with the road.
After the crash, the Department of State Growth, now Building Tasmania, assessed the bend as slightly sharper than others nearby and installed 65km/h curve warning signs in February 2024.
Coroner Mackey made no recommendations.
