A 22-year-old who died after a single vehicle crash on Middle Tree Road in Richmond was recording himself driving his hilux for Snapchat while drunk, a Coroner has found.
As originally reported by The Mercury, Coroner Robert Webster found Adam Grant Oates had been out with friends drinking before getting behind the wheel of his Hilux ute to drive home around 10 pm on 26 July 2021.
Oates, who was a keen mountain biker and motocross racer, was allegedly filming himself doing burnouts on the night of the crash.
Twelve minutes after sending Snapchat videos to his group of friends, police were called to a serious accident where they found Oates unconscious and without a seatbelt.
The young man had lost control of the vehicle and collided with a tree on the opposite side of the road near Prospect House.
Oates died at the Royal Hobart Hospital five days later.
He had a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit and had suffered significant head injuries, according to a a post-mortem examination.
Oates was a former St Virgil’s College student who had been working as a Cadbury factory operations maintainer at the time of his death.
