Two Tasmanian men who died in a crash with a gum tree last year had “consumed large quantities of alcohol” and refused multiple offers from sober drivers before they got behind the wheel of a car, a Coroner has found.
After finishing work at 1pm on a Friday in March 2022, 20-year-old Nicholas George Williams and 27-year-old Shaun Lindsay William Ross drove 5 minutes to the Somerset Hotel and started drinking.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart found that during the evening, the duo had planned to visit a friend’s house in Yolla, around 12 minutes southwest of the hotel.
A friend at the hotel, who hadn’t consumed alcohol, offered to drive them due to their “state of intoxication”. They declined the offer.
About an hour before they eventually left, they called a taxi which “left without them” due to their delay in getting inside.
“The sober friend again offered to drive them home (or possibly even to their intended destination) but they decided to travel to Yolla in Mr Williams’ Toyota Landcruiser flat tray utility that was parked at the hotel,” McTaggart said.
Williams, who held a novice P2 driver’s licence, and Ross drove off from the hotel and “did not have their seat belts fastened at any time”.
Around 5.9km into their journey, Williams, who was four times over the legal blood alcohol limit, lost control of the vehicle and veered onto the grass shoulder of the road.
They narrowly missed colliding with large trees and stumps before reaching a residential driveway, where they “likely became airborne”.
“[The vehicle] then impacted with a gum tree and rotated, causing Mr Williams’ head to impact with the windscreen before being ejected from the vehicle through the rear window and hitting a tree trunk. He suffered massive head injuries and died immediately,” Coroner McTaggart said.
Ross stayed inside the car but suffered extensive neck and chest injuries and was pronounced dead upon the arrival of emergency services.
McTaggart said the investigation “has not been able to determine the speed” of the vehicle at the time it left the road, but did find that the “large quantity of alcohol consumed over a prolonged period was the predominant factor in the fatal decision of Mr Williams to drive his vehicle”.
“The deaths of Mr Williams and Mr Ross were tragic and entirely preventable. If they had planned the day to ensure that a vehicle was not accessible after consuming an excessive quantity of alcohol, they would not have died,” McTaggart said.
“I convey my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of both deceased.”
