Red Centre road deaths: Coroner finds alcohol a contributing factor in three fatalities in 2024
In the wake of a horrific year on Territory roads – where 60 people died – the Coroner has released findings into nine of the deaths, and a number of them have one fatal factor tying them together.
One hit a tree drink driving. The second was decapitated by a semi trailer after drunkenly stumbling onto the road. The third was over the limit riding a motorcycle without a helmet when he suffered a “spontaneous” haemorrhage. The fourth was in the back seat of a car being driven by a man more than four times over the limit, on the wrong side of the road.
After 60 people died on Territory roads in 2024, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage has released her findings into nine of the deaths.
Of the nine findings, released in July, four relate to the Red Centre, two of which contained three of the “fatal five” factors: drink and/or drug driving; failure to wear a seatbelt; distraction; fatigue; and excessive speed.
All four deaths involved alcohol in some capacity.
Of the three deaths which occurred in Alice Springs, one was a 51-year-old male who died in the town’s hospital on September 1, 2024.
He suffered a “spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage” while he was riding a motorbike without a helmet near Mount Peachy outstation seven days earlier.
He had a blood alcohol reading of 0.14 per cent, but the coroner found his intoxication did not contribute to his death.
“Acute alcohol intoxication” played a part in the death of an 18-year-old man in Eastside, Alice Springs, who crashed his car into a tree on Bougainvillea Ave, Ms Armitage found.
In her findings, Ms Armitage said the young man was drinking with his friends at an address in the Alice Springs suburb on May 31, 2024, when “he decided to go ‘hooning’”.
“Although he held a zero alcohol licence, he was very intoxicated with a blood alcohol reading of 0.20 per cent (four times the legal limit). He was not wearing a seatbelt and he was speeding on a suburban street,” Ms Armitage wrote.
Ms Armitage found the 18-year-old’s death contained three of the fatal five, as did the death of a 57-year-old man on South Tce, Alice Springs, on February 28, 2024.
The man was sitting in the back seat of a Holden Commodore – which was being driven by a man more than four times over the limit – when the car collided head on with another car.
The Commodore was speeding on the wrong side of the road, the driver and man killed were not wearing seatbelts, and the crash killed the 57-year-old man.
The “preventable collision with horrific consequences” left the driver of the other car with “serious and life altering injuries,” Ms Armitage wrote.
The driver of the Commodore was sentenced to five years, three months in prison on June 20 this year after he pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle causing death, driving a motor vehicle causing serious harm, driving a motor vehicle causing serious harm, driving with a high range blood alcohol content, and driving when not under an alcohol ignition lock license.
Ms Armitage wrote the driver of the Commodore had two previous convictions for high range drink driving, and could only drive while on an alcohol ignition lock license.
Ms Armitage did not give his name or age in the findings, and he will be eligible for parole after two years.
South of Alice Springs, near Stuarts Well Roadhouse, a 59-year-old woman was decapitated by a road train when it hit her just after 7pm August 8, 2024.
Prior to being hit by the truck, she – along with two family members – had 29 drinks at the Stuarts Well Roadhouse.
The group had seven Carlton Dry beers and 21 cans of VB over a four hour-period, Ms Armitage found.
The NT Liquor Commission later found the roadhouse breached its liquor license by serving the group so many drinks, but after having the drinks, the group then got in a car and drove south.
They stopped to see if a car pulled over south of the roadhouse was ok, and while the driver spoke to the occupants – unbeknown to the other vehicle occupant – the woman also went to the car to ask for a cigarette, Ms Armitage wrote.
She only noticed the road train – which was travelling at 100km/h and the driver of which was not found to be at fault in the death – when it was right in front of her, due to her poor eyesight, Ms Armitage determined.
Ms Armitage did not give the names of any of the deceased. She described each death as a tragedy.
No inquest was held for any of the deaths mentioned.
In her findings, Ms Armitage only made one recommendation to the Department of Logistics and Infrastructure (DLI) in the death of the woman who died near Stuart Well Roadhouse.
She recommended the department include “representation” from Licensing NT in its road safety taskforce.
A DLI spokesman said the department acknowledges the findings and is “reviewing” the recommendation.
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Originally published as Red Centre road deaths: Coroner finds alcohol a contributing factor in three fatalities in 2024
