20-05-2025
Death of 86-year-old driver in Karoonda Highway crash prompts push for change
A coroner has recommended transport authorities better utilise their discretion to suspend the licences of at-risk drivers, following the death of an 86-year-old on a rural South Australian highway.
Coroner Sally Giles handed down her findings on Tuesday, almost two months after beginning an inquest into the death of Edward John Raines.
Mr Raines died from "multiple injuries" when his car — which was on the wrong side of the Karoonda Highway — collided with a semi-trailer on April 12, 2019.
The inquest previously heard that Mr Raines's dangerous driving had come to the attention of police just three weeks earlier on March 21, when SA Police's Sergeant Mark Wright observed him pulling out of a service station and failing to give way.
The officer then submitted a request to the Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) to order a report into Mr Raines's fitness for the road, as he had no power to stop the 86-year-old from driving.
Counsel assisting the coroner Martin Kirby previously told the inquest letters had been sent to Mr Raines, instructing him to undergo a medical assessment, but he had not responded to them.
In her published findings, Ms Giles said it seemed there was "no need for SAPOL to have the power" to suspend licences while awaiting "a medical certificate of fitness to drive", because the discretion to take such a step already rested with DIT.
But she found that while the power existed, it was not current practice within the department to suspend a licence on an interim basis under such circumstances, and she recommended that that state of affairs be reconsidered.
"It is not current practice within DIT to consider … whether interim action needs to be taken prior to the medical assessment of fitness to drive being completed," Ms Giles wrote.
That recommendation, the coroner wrote, related to cases in which authorities were awaiting "the receipt of a medical certificate of fitness to drive in circumstances where SAPOL raises concerns about a driver's competence".
Ms Giles also recommended faster and improved communication between DIT and SAPOL.
The coroner noted that the counsel for the department had suggested a recommendation that "SAPOL and DIT consult with each other and review their processes with a view to expediting and improving" the current practice relating to referrals for medical review.
"I am of the view that reducing that time frame is of importance. I therefore make the following recommendation directed to the Minister for Police and the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport," Ms Giles wrote.
"That SAPOL and DIT consult and review their processes with a view to expediting and improving [them].
"Part of that consultation should be improved processes for information sharing."
Ms Giles said while changes had already been made to the licence suspension process since Mr Raines's death, one of the changes potentially increased the risk.
She said in 2019, "a minimum of 31 days" was required before the department would suspend a person's licence in the absence of a requested certificate of fitness to drive, but that the time frame had since increased to 38 days.
"These additional days represent an increase in the amount of time a potentially unsafe driver may remain on the road, heightening the risk to both themselves and other road users," Ms Giles wrote.
"In my view, this amplifies the need for DIT to consider whether any interim measures need to put in place for the protection of the driver and other road users."
In a statement, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the government would look at the findings.
"The government will of course look very closely at all recommendations of any coronial inquest," he said.
Ms Giles also suggested DIT expand its communication methods.
"It is my view that DIT should transition from relying solely on postal communication to utilising email addresses, or a combination of both, when communicating critical information about fitness to drive and licence suspension," she wrote.
A DIT spokesperson said the department "will consider the findings handed today and will assess the recommendations made in the report".
