File image. Photo: 123RF
A coroner has found that a 19-year-old man who died in a motorbike crash in Napier last year was driving at nearly three times the speed limit and not wearing a helmet.
Jack MacConnell was driving his motorbike down Kennedy Road at about midnight on 22 January, 2024 when he hit a parked truck and died on impact.
CCTV footage from about 150 metres before the crash site estimated Jack was travelling at speeds between 124 and 156km/h, well over the limit of 50km/h.
A coronial inquiry has found MacConnell wasn't wearing a helmet and suffered catastrophic head injuries. Police later found the helmet on his bed at the flat.
Toxicology reports found no drugs or alcohol in his system, and Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave said the death was not self-inflicted.
MacConnell's flatmate described MacConnell as "always happy" and said he was a good flatmate who was friendly and motivated.
"He engaged well, he never seemed flat, he never moaned about people or work. He didn't have a single bad word to say about anyone," he said.
Senior Constable Watts concluded that the main causative factor in the crash was MacConnell travelling at speed, without a helmet, and failing to negotiate a path around the parked truck.
"However, the driver's failure to turn on the marker light at the rear of the parked truck cannot be overlooked," he said.
Schmidt-McCleave said sadly MacConnell's death could have been prevented if he was not travelling at excessive speed on the motorcycle and he had been wearing a helmet so that his vision was not impaired by wind against his eyes at speed.
"It is probable that, without those factors, he would have noticed the truck and been able to safely navigate a path around it or, at most, collided with it but not sustained fatal injuries."
Schmidt-McCleave said the dangers of travelling at excessive speed were constantly the subject of campaigns by police and road traffic agencies, as well as comments by coroners.
"I see no need to make any further recommendations except to plead with the public that those cautions are heeded.
"Similarly, it is not only common sense but a legal requirement in New Zealand to wear a helmet on a motorcycle. The dangers of not doing so go without saying."
The coroner also recommended all truck drivers ensured their rear parking lights were on.
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