Bessell, Michael Ian Charlesworth
Deceased
Michael Ian Charlesworth Bessell
Demographics
19y, male
Date of death
2006-11-24
Finding date
2007-07-20
Cause of death
Multiple injuries sustained in a two-vehicle motor vehicle accident
AI-generated summary
Michael Ian Charlesworth Bessell, a 19-year-old male, died from multiple injuries sustained in a two-vehicle motorcycle accident on the Burnett Highway near Mount Morgan on 24 November 2006. His motorcycle crossed to the incorrect side of the road and collided with a bread truck. The coroner found the cause speculative, potentially involving excessive speed or inexperience, or both. No criminal charges were warranted. The coroner made recommendations to Queensland Police regarding increased traffic patrols and enforcement of road rules in this high-risk area, and to Queensland Transport regarding speed limit reductions on this section of road, particularly on the bend where visibility and vehicle control are critical factors.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Motorcycle crossed to incorrect side of road
- Possible excessive speed
- Possible inexperience of driver
- Road conditions on bend with inadequate speed limit signage
- Insufficient traffic patrols in area
Coroner's recommendations
- Queensland Police Service consider conducting more traffic patrols of this section of the Burnett Highway near Mount Morgan and enforce road rules such as failing to keep left and speeding with zero tolerance
- Queensland Transport give consideration to reducing the speed limit on the section of road currently 70 kilometres per hour to 60 kilometres per hour
- Queensland Transport reduce the speed limit on the bend currently 60 kilometres per hour to 50 kilometres per hour and extend the speed zone to give vehicles more opportunity to slow down prior to the bend
Full text
Related cases
Source and disclaimer
This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.
Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.
Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction —