Inquest into the Death of Darren Ross TWINE
Deceased
Darren Ross TWINE
Demographics
52y, male
Date of death
2020-07-08
Finding date
2023-08-31
Cause of death
Multiple injuries sustained when struck and run over by a prime mover
AI-generated summary
Darren Twine, an experienced 52-year-old truck driver, was fatally struck and run over by a prime mover driven by colleague Cody Robinson in a Port Hedland roadhouse car park. Robinson had affixed a non-original reflective foil window shade to his windscreen, significantly increasing the blind spot in front of the vehicle. Twine positioned himself in front of Robinson's running prime mover for reasons that could not be determined. Robinson did not see Twine before striking him but realised afterward that he had hit a person. Key clinical/occupational lessons include the extreme danger of modified sun visors that obstruct driver visibility in large vehicles, the importance of pre-movement checks, and hazard identification by employers. The coroner found the death was accidental, noting Robinson could not have anticipated Twine's position. No criminal charges beyond traffic violations were pursued.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Non-original reflective foil window shade affixed to windscreen reducing driver visibility
- Significantly enlarged blind spot in front of vehicle
- Vehicle was flat-face/cabover design with inherently large blind spots
- Nighttime incident with no direct lighting in the truck parking area
- Faulty left-hand indicators on the vehicle
- Unknown reason why deceased positioned himself in front of running prime mover
- Driver had consumed alcohol (blood alcohol level 0.031%)
Coroner's recommendations
- WorkSafe to maximise distribution of Significant Incident Summary regarding dangers of non-original window shades to industry participants
- Heavy vehicle operators should cease using modified foil window shades at the bottom of windscreens, particularly in cabover vehicles
- Employers should educate workers of potential dangers from installing non-original items that restrict field of view and increase blind spots
- Conduct regular checks of vehicle cabs to ensure non-original items have not been added that further restrict driver field of view
- Encourage workers conducting vehicle maintenance to alert employers to presence of such hazardous modifications
- Drivers should conduct pre-start checks before setting off to ensure no persons are in vicinity of intended direction of travel
- Encourage adoption of active collision avoidance systems in heavy vehicles to detect and prevent collisions with pedestrians and other road users
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