Patricia Koskovic, whose daughter Emma died in a crash in 2023, calls for harsher drink driving laws

Emma Koskovic was just 35 when she died in a single-vehicle crash at Strahan in 2023 – two years later, her mother is calling for tougher laws to protect road users and save lives.

The late Emma Koskovic, who died in a crash in 2023. Picture: Facebook

The mother of a 35-year-old “functioning alcoholic” who died in a tragic single-vehicle crash at Strahan is fighting to have the legal blood alcohol concentration for Tasmanian motorists reduced to zero – and she wants random breath tests to be made mandatory for every driver pulled over by police.

Patricia Koskovic, speaking during National Road Safety Week, said she didn’t condone her late daughter Emma’s drink driving, which was believed to be the major contributing factor to her death.

But Ms Koskovic, of St Helens, has spent the last two years endeavouring to see road safety laws changed in order to save lives and prevent more people like her daughter from dying on the roads.

The late Emma Koskovic, who died in a crash in 2023. Picture: Supplied

She described Emma as a “beautiful woman” who “promoted her personality and hid what she was really suffering, which was anxiety”.

“It was functioning alcoholism [and] this is a big problem which led to her downfall, in fact,” Ms Koskovic said.

“She managed jobs, she was competent to a certain point – her life went on. But she must have been driving with alcohol content in her blood well before this happened.”

Ms Koskovic said she had “challenged” Emma about her alcoholism “a couple of times” but her daughter dismissed her, saying she was “worrying over nothing”.

The bereft mum is calling for the legal blood alcohol concentration limit to be cut to 0 per cent, believing motorists are given “too much leeway” with the current legal limit of 0.05 per cent.

Ms Koskovic is also pushing for breath tests to be conducted on any driver pulled over by police, no matter the nature of the incident.

Patricia Koskovic with her late daughter, Emma, who died in a crash in 2023. Picture: Supplied

Emma, who lived in Launceston, died on January 14, 2023 when she was on her way to meet her partner at Strahan, entered a left sweeping curve at high speed on Henty Rd and slid across into the opposite lane and into an embankment before hitting a tree.

Crash analysis found that Emma had entered the curve at a speed of at least 127km/h and Coroner Olivia McTaggart concluded that she would have died as a result of head injuries “almost immediately after impact”.

An autopsy revealed that Emma had a blood alcohol concentration more than four times the legal limit at the time of her death, with “numerous” empty beer cans found in her car.

Her mother said she discovered after her daughter’s death that she had previously lost her license for three months after being caught drink driving about two years earlier.

About an hour before the fatal crash, Emma was pulled over and fined by police on the Murchison Highway after she was detected travelling at 143km/h in a 100km/h zone.

Emma Koskovic, who died in a crash in 2023. Picture: Supplied

Because she didn’t appear intoxicated, the officers didn’t conduct a breath test and Coroner McTaggart ruled that the decision not to test was “reasonable and … not a breach of their duties”, saying they “exercised their powers appropriately”.

Emma’s mother said she didn’t blame the police for her daughter’s death and knew she had been in the wrong. But she still feels passionately that drink driving laws should be tightened in order to further protect the community.

“I don’t condone any of [my daughter’s behaviour],” Ms Koskovic said.

“I don’t want these policemen’s heads on a platter – that’s not what I’m after. I want this to be a rule that will save other people’s lives.”

A state government spokesman acknowledged that random breath tests “save lives and serve as an important way to deter drink driving and similar behaviours”.

However, he said the government had “no plan to introduce mandatory breath testing”.

“The current legislation gets the balance right, allowing for Tasmania Police to use their discretion based on the situation in front of them,” the spokesman said.