Alcohol and cannabis dulled driver's response, court told

[Mulcontent]

Found: Tue Jun 03 01:19:15 2008 PDT

Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Copyright: 2008 The Sydney Morning Herald

Contact: letters@smh.com.au

Website: http://www.smh.com.au/

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441

Webpage: http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2008/0...

Newshawk: http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/

 

Date: June 3 2008

 

Malcolm Brown

 

ADAM HOLT had been drinking and smoking cannabis before the car he was presumed to be driving crashed into a collapsed section of the Old Pacific Highway last October, killing himself and his four passengers, Glebe Coroner's Court heard yesterday.

 

That would have significantly impaired his reaction time and ability to make judgments, the inquest, which resumed yesterday before the Deputy State Coroner, Paul MacMahon, heard.

 

Other drivers had arrived at the section before Mr Holt, some had got out of their cars and one had put on his hazard lights.

 

Mr Holt, reported to have been travelling about 50 kmh, would have needed 40 metres to stop. But according to the evidence, the only indications of braking or evasive action were in the last few metres before the car plunged in.

 

Mr Holt, 30, whose body was recovered with those of Roslyn Bragg, 29, and three children, Madison and Jasmine Holt and Travis Bragg, was found to have an 0.052 blood-alcohol content, a urine-alcohol content of 0.077, and traces of cannabis. Ms Bragg was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.115 and to have had cannabis.

 

But this was only one factor the coroner had to take into account in explaining the tragedy, in which the car went into a newly created culvert and everyone inside drowned, Paul Menzies, QC, counsel assisting the coroner, said.

 

Other factors included the state of the road, where there had been corrosion of steel fittings around corrugated iron pipes, allowing water to escape from the pipe and wash away the roadfill.

 

The road had subsided as early as 2000, he said, apparently caused by a problem with the pipes whose tendency to failure was "well-known to the RTA [Roads and Traffic Authority]".

 

In 1995, before Gosford City Council took over responsibility for the road, at least one RTA officer had said, in the presence of council officers, that the culvert needed to be repaired "sooner rather than later".

 

"What becomes plain is that in 1995 the council was put on notice of the need to carry out remediation," Mr Menzies said. "Remediation should have been in the form of concrete lining at the bottom of the pipes and the inverters [metal fittings]. Why the concreting did not take place is ultimately one of the questions you will have to determine."

 

Dr Judith Perl, a forensic pharmacologist employed by the NSW Police, said the evidence indicated Mr Holt had been drinking and smoking cannabis one or two hours before the accident.

 

Research showed that even small amounts of alcohol mixed with small amounts of cannabis could have a dramatic effect. The combination slowed brain function and reaction time, inhibiting the individual's ability to process information and make quick decisions.

 

In answer to Phil Doherty SC, for the Holt and Bragg families, she said Mr Holt had driven for up to 35 minutes before the accident. She said alcoholics were quite capable of driving along familiar routes but were vulnerable to unexpected events.

 

The hearing resumes today.

 

Muls Comment

What a load of fucking whitewash !

I know this piece of road backwards and no man could have avoided what happened to this poor guy and his family , it was raining heavily , it was dark and stormy and there was a giant fucking hole in the road !

Saying pot use had any part in helping in these peoples demise is crap and makes a handy way of the Gov getting out of any compensation payouts

The miniscule amount found in his blood via a blood test ( 0.0006 ) could have occured anytime in the last 30 days . I hope his family fights these accusations vigorously !

[Nooby]

Yeah i read that article as well and thought WTF?

 

His whole family is dead cos the govt. screwed up so they got desperate and started blaming the driver. That being said though, apparantly the blood alcohol reading was .06 so he should really be driving. Maybe the govt. can start a propaganda campaign against booze? That's the real killer drug. :-)

[LivingMonstrosity]

the judicial system sucks so much ass

[mull]

Well said Mul

 

How much cannabis was combined with the gosford city council chamber's alcohol..

No action since 1995 on a piece of dangerous road, pretty slow. That nonaction might affect any related insurance issue..

 

Sounds like blameshift damage control.