Fatal Mt White crash victim was over alcohol limit, court hears
A man who was killed in a high-speed Central Coast crash had enough alcohol in his system to make him significantly impaired, a court has heard.
Central Coast
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Toxicology reports conducted following a man’s death in a high-speed collision on the M1 Motorway last year revealed he was over the legal blood alcohol limit at the time, a court has heard.
Jeremy Harvey, 46, died when his Isuzu D-Max ute was thrown into the path of a truck near Mt White on March 9, 2018, before the two vehicles hurtled off the road into dense bushland.
It came after an allegedly speeding Dane Darren Wheway changed lanes at 120km/h in front of Mr Harvey’s car about 4.45pm, clipping its front and sparking the fatal change of direction.
Wheway, 26, is on trial for several charges including manslaughter, with the Crown arguing his allegedly erratic driving that afternoon amounted to gross criminal negligence.
The Wyong man – who drove the 40km home following the crash – had pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving occasioning death but is fighting the more serious accusation.
Defence counsel Alex Radojev on Tuesday told a jury that post-mortem tests of Mr Harvey’s blood revealed an alcohol content of 0.06 – which would have put him in the low-range drink driving category.
Witness Professor Macdonald Christie said that would have resulted in “mild but significant” impairment of the late man’s driving ability, and made him more likely to “take risks”.
Studies had shown a blood-alcohol content of 0.06 made a driver 1.6 times more likely to be involved in an accident compared to a sober counterpart, the court heard.
“The risk of accident increases dramatically and exponentially at 0.05 … and it keeps going up and up and up very rapidly,” Prof Christie said.
Under questioning he confirmed the reading would have been an accurate representation of what the victim’s blood alcohol content at the time of his death.
The University of Sydney’s neuropharmacologist said such samples were taken from femoral arteries and a report stated there had been no decomposition at the time it was retrieved.
“Given both factors and the fact the body was refrigerated after death, yes,” he answered.
The main impairments Mr Harvey would likely have experienced would have been his ability to divide his attention between stimuli and his reaction time during complex situations would be diminished, Prof Christie testified.
“The more complex and difficult (a situation) it would be more likely it (driving ability) would be diminished,” he said.
Under cross examination he conceded that causation was the most important factor of any traffic accident, and that he “hadn’t even considered” Mr Harvey was to blame while compiling his report into the deadly crash.
The trial continues before Judge Robyn Tupman at Downing Centre District Court.
