A Tasmanian coroner has urged provisional drivers to plan ahead before drinking, after finding the death of a 20-year-old apprentice painter on an end-of-season soccer trip was “wholly preventable”.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart handed down her findings into the October 2022 crash on April 17, with the report released publicly today.
The young man, who lived in Newnham, was killed when the Subaru station wagon he was travelling in left a gravel road and struck trees near Andover, in Tasmania’s Midlands.
He had accepted a lift from a friend and teammate who had been drinking throughout the afternoon.
The pair had travelled to Fonthill Farm in Lemont for the weekend with about 10 other players.
On Saturday, the group played golf at Oatlands before heading to the Kentish Hotel about 3pm.
The driver, a novice P2 licence holder required to have zero alcohol in his system, consumed about seven drinks over the afternoon, including three pints of beer.
Several teammates warned him not to drive and offered him a lift, but he got behind the wheel at 6:30pm, with his friend belted into the front passenger seat.
About 20 minutes later, on Inglewood Road, the Subaru was travelling at 92km/h in an 80km/h zone when the driver lost control on a right-hand bend.
The car spun, struck trees on the passenger side and came to rest on its roof. The passenger suffered fatal head injuries.
The driver was not seriously injured. A later breath test returned a reading of 0.082.
“I find that the significant impairment of his judgement caused by alcohol consumption was the main causative factor in his loss of control, his excessive speed and the crash,” McTaggart said.
She also noted the passenger “made an ill-considered decision to drive with [the driver], knowing he had been consuming alcohol”.
The driver was sentenced in the Launceston Magistrates Court in February 2025 after pleading guilty to causing death by negligent driving and related charges.
He received a five-month suspended jail term and a 15-month driving disqualification.
McTaggart said the risk of crashing rose sharply as blood alcohol levels increased and stressed the dangers were greater for inexperienced drivers.
“It is critical that provisional licence holders who intend to drink alcohol make early and clear plans not to drive and to arrange safe alternative safe transport,” she said.
