A woman's act of driving on the incorrect side of the road and into the path of an oncoming vehicle was the cause of the death of an 18-year-old man in 2018, a coroner has found.
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Coroner Olivia McTaggart said that Jayden John Pearce died in hospital as a result of a traumatic brain injury on December 29 - four days after a Christmas Day crash.
Mr Pearce was a passenger in a 2001 Kia Rio driven by Mr Pearce's friend Jackson Spratt which was travelling north on Pipers River Road about 3.50pm.
Elizabeth Quill, 34, was driving a Ford Laser Hatch with her dog on the front passenger seat and heading in a southerly direction near Lower Turners Marsh.
"At a time shortly before the crash, Ms Quill drove onto the incorrect side of the road," Ms McTaggart said.
"This act of driving was due to inattention on her part. It was not deliberate and she was not asleep.
"Mr Spratt noticed Ms Quill's vehicle approaching in the incorrect lane, being the lane in which he was travelling correctly.
"He braked hard and swerved right trying to avoid a collision with the upcoming vehicle.
"Unfortunately he was not able to avoid the frontal crash."
"I am satisfied upon the evidence that Mr Spratt took all reasonable action to avoid the crash."
She said excessive speed was not a factor in the crash.
"I am satisfied that Mr Pearce died as a result of Ms Quill's act of driving on the incorrect side of the road and into the path of the vehicle driven by Mr Spratt," she said.
Ms McTaggart said both drivers had illicit drugs present in their system.
Ms Quill told police she had smoked methamphetamine in the early morning of December 24 while Mr Spratt smoked cannabis on Christmas Eve.
Ms McTaggart said it was possible that Quill was fatigued at the time of the crash.
"Phone records indicate she was not home at 1.54 am and that she was engaged on a phone call until 2.20am in the morning," Ms McTaggart said.
"In her police interview she was unable to remember the moments before the collision or why she was driving on the incorrect side of the road."
She has offended since the conviction and will be sentenced on February 2 2022.
She has been in custody since September.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
