Fenton, Rebecca Louise
Deceased
Rebecca Louise Fenton
Demographics
female
Date of death
2013-06-24
Finding date
2015-05-01
Cause of death
Multiple injuries due to motor vehicle trauma
AI-generated summary
Rebecca Louise Fenton died in a motor vehicle collision on the Capricorn Highway near Blackwater, Queensland when her vehicle rear-ended a stationary utility waiting to turn right at an inadequately designed intersection. The coroner found the death resulted from a combination of momentary driver inattention (cause unknown) and inadequate intersection design. Fatigue, micro-sleep, mobile phone use, and other driver impairment were excluded. The intersection, handling over 3300 daily vehicle movements, lacked proper channelised right-turn treatment and featured a grey vehicle that may have blended into background structures. The coroner recommended upgrading to a CHR (channelised right-hand turn) intersection, which would reduce rear-end collision risk by approximately 52 times. Road design and intersection geometry were identified as critical safety issues requiring remediation.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Momentary driver inattention (cause not precisely determined)
- Inadequate intersection treatment and design
- Absence of dedicated right-turn lane
- Possible visual obscuration by Boonal coal loader in background
- Grey coloured vehicle blending into background features
Coroner's recommendations
- The intersection be upgraded to a CHR (channelised right-hand turn) style intersection for westbound traffic
- The Department of Transport & Main Roads take all steps necessary to assist in the early implementation of the CHR intersection upgrade
- The Department of Transport & Main Roads nominate a single dedicated contact person within the Department to co-ordinate and progress the intersection upgrade
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