Coroner re-warns about alcohol danger after quad bike rider death

A tragic quad bike accident after an engagement party killed a young man, promoting the coronoer to reissue a stern warning.

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A CORONER has reissued a warning against riding quad bikes after drinking alcohol, following the death of a man whose bike flipped and crushed his face.

Jacob Raymond Crawford, 35, died on January 29 last year – 10 days after he and his girlfriend attended an engagement party at the Richmond Golf Club.

Coroner Simon Cooper said the exact amount of alcohol Mr Crawford consumed that night was unclear.

After the engagement event, the couple attended an after-party at a friend’s property at Orielton.

Some time after midnight, between six and eight partygoers – including Mr Crawford – started riding quad bikes around the property in the dark, with most carrying a pillion passenger.

Mr Crawford’s girlfriend was riding as his pillion passenger and was wearing a full helmet with a perspex visor, while the welder and fabricator wore an open-face helmet.

Mr Cooper said he was satisfied no-one was riding “especially dangerously or at an inappropriate speed”, with the friends riding in groups and at times side-by-side so they could talk to each other.

But he said as Mr Crawford neared up a steep incline, the bike flipped over backwards – with the vehicle throwing his girlfriend clear, but landing on his head and crushing his face.

Still conscious and in “great pain”, Mr Crawford’s girlfriend and friend tried to help him before paramedics arrived and transferred him to Royal Hobart Hospital, where he died from head injuries with widespread damage to the brain.

Mr Cooper said pathology testing showed he had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.161 – more than three times over the legal alcohol driving limit – and also took a passenger on a bike that was only designed for one person.

The coroner also said Mr Crawford, a highly-experienced motorbike and quad bike rider, was likely wearing a helmet made in Indonesia, but because it was destroyed in the crash it was impossible to know whether it complied with Australian standards.

“In August 2017, I handed down my findings after an inquest in relation to seven quad bike related deaths,” Mr Cooper said.

“In those findings, I commented and I repeat that ‘no one should ever ride a quad bike whilst affected by alcohol’.”

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