Berrill, Robert Charles - Non-inquest findings
Deceased
Robert Charles Berrill
Demographics
male
Date of death
2015-03-08
Finding date
2016-01-15
Cause of death
Multiple injuries due to a motorcycle accident
AI-generated summary
Robert Berrill, an experienced motorcycle instructor, lost control of his sports motorcycle while cornering on Captain Cook Highway in Queensland. Evidence suggests his footwear or foot peg contacted the road during a left-hand curve, causing loss of control and collision with an oncoming vehicle. While mechanically sound, the motorcycle was travelling at 54–80 km/h in a 60 km/h zone. Berrill's traffic history showed a pattern of risk-taking behaviour, including 15 previous speeding offences and prior similar incident in 2000. The coroner found that despite his riding skill, aggressive cornering technique left inadequate margin for error. This case illustrates how experience and competence do not mitigate risk from deliberate risk-taking behaviour on public roads, and highlights consequences for innocent third parties.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Loss of control while cornering
- Footwear or foot peg contact with road
- Risk-taking riding behaviour
- Aggressive cornering technique with minimal margin for error
- History of traffic violations and speeding offences
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 —