Tradie relives horror highway death crash

A YOUNG tradie says he looked away from the road for “two seconds” before rearending the last in a line of vehicles banked on the Bass Highway to allow a truck to turn.

The force of the impact from 21-year-old West Launceston tradie Mitchell Jeffrey Harvey’s Volkswagen Amarok on the vehicle in front, a Toyota HiLux, caused it to in turn strike a Mitsubishi Triton. The Triton was jolted forward into a motorbike, knocking the rider off.

The already nasty collision, which occurred about 6.20am on March 25 last year on the Bass Highway near Carrick, turned deadly moments later, when an approaching truck also failed to see the banked cars.

While Harvey’s Amarok avoided this collision – he had moved his damaged vehicle onto the verge by this point – the truck slammed into three vehicles and the toppled motorcycle, causing the death of the 50-year-old motorcyclist.

The driver of the HiLux, whose car Harvey initially hit, was flown to the Royal Hobart Hospital in a critical condition, according to information released by Tasmania Police at the time of the collision.

Harvey and the Triton driver received non-life threatening injuries, while the truck driver was uninjured.

Harvey pleaded guilty in Launceston Magistrates Court to a charge of driving without due care and attention. Tasmania Police discontinued the alternative, more serious charge of negligent driving.

The court was told that in his police interview following the collision, Harvey said he “didn’t see any tail lights or anything, looked away for two seconds, (and) by the time I looked back there were tail lights”.

“By the time I took my feet off the accelerator, I was bracing for impact,” Harvey told the officers.

There were no drugs or alcohol in his system and it was accepted by the court he was doing less than the signposted speed limit of 110km/h, as it was dark.

Defence lawyer Mark Doyle said his client was “simply responsible for running into the back of one vehicle”.

He was “not liable in any way, shape or form” for the “tragic secondary incident,” Mr Doyle submitted.

Magistrate Evan Hughes asked whether Tasmania Police asserted that Harvey’s initial collision was “causally linked culpably” to the subsequent, fatal crash. This would need to be factored into the sentence.

The prosecutor was unable to give an extempore response.

The case was adjourned to February 2.