Finding into death of Jodi Michelle Walsham
Deceased
Jodi Michelle Walsham
Demographics
42y, female
Date of death
2015-03-07
Finding date
2018-05-21
Cause of death
Multiple injuries (motor vehicle impact — motorcycle passenger)
AI-generated summary
A 42-year-old woman died as a motorcycle pillion passenger following a motor vehicle collision on the Great Alpine Road. Her male partner lost control of his motorcycle when it encountered a 70mm road defect ('shove') on a sharp left-hand bend whilst being ridden above the 45kph advisory speed. The motorcycle collided head-on with an oncoming police vehicle. Despite regular inspections by VicRoads and its contractor, the road defect had not been identified or recorded. The coroner found that current road inspection regimes, designed for four-wheeled vehicles, fail to identify road surface irregularities particularly hazardous to motorcyclists. Key clinical lessons: this case highlights the vulnerability of vulnerable road users to preventable environmental hazards, and the importance of systems designed to capture risks to specific user populations.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Road surface defect (70mm 'shove') in cornering line at bend
- Rider speed exceeding 45kph advisory limit but below 80kph posted limit
- Failure to identify road defect in routine inspections
- Inspection regime not designed to identify hazards specific to motorcycle riders
- Head-on collision with oncoming police vehicle
Coroner's recommendations
- That VicRoads enhances the training of its own inspectors and requires its contractor to enhance the training of its inspectors to be more mindful of the needs of motorcycle riders and of their increased vulnerability to road imperfections when undertaking inspections
- That VicRoads further promotes the use of its hotline amongst the motorcycling community and encourages motorcycle riders to use the hotline to report any road hazards, defects or imperfections that may endanger motorcycle riders in particular
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 —