Deceased
Matthew Thomas Forde
Demographics
29y, male
Date of death
2008-01-29
Finding date
2010-01-05
Cause of death
head injury
AI-generated summary
Matthew Forde, 29, was struck by a reversing VicRoads maintenance van while retrieving a fallen surfboard from the Princes Highway emergency lane. The van driver had hearing difficulties and could not hear the reversing sensor alert. Despite being resuscitated at the scene and transported to hospital, Forde sustained unsurvivable head injuries. The coroner noted the van lacked an externally audible reversing alarm which would have alerted Forde to the vehicle's approach. A key clinical lesson is the importance of trauma resuscitation and early transfer to definitive care, though prognosis was poor from the outset due to the severity of closed head injury. The preventable element relates to vehicle safety rather than clinical care.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Clinical conditions
51y · Male·Traumatic brain injuries resulting from blunt head trauma: multiple calvarial an…
Adrian Garcia, 51, died from traumatic brain injuries sustained during an assault in a public park in Sorell, Tasmania on 10 March 2021. He was heavily intoxicated when struck by a baseball bat multiple times by his fian…
48y · Male·gunshot wound to chest
Peter Owen Pilkington, 48, died from a gunshot wound sustained during a police siege on 6 December 2021. After escalating behaviour at his NDIS support office in Stretton, Queensland, Peter produced what police believed …
14y · Male·Retroperitoneal haemorrhage secondary to abdominal injuries sustained in a motor…
A 14-year-old boy riding an illegally high-powered e-scooter (capable of 40-50 km/h) collided with a utility vehicle at a residential intersection. The e-scooter exceeded legal speed limits and age restrictions under Vic…
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 —