Julie Lesley Farmer, aged 40, died on 14 August 1999 from multiple injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision on the South West Highway near Cardup, Western Australia. She was driving a Holden Gemini southbound when a Nissan truck driven by Leslie Ormsby, travelling northbound and towing a horse float via a Mazda utility, initiated an overtaking manoeuvre. During this overtake, the truck's step made contact with the horse float's rear wheel arch, triggering a chain reaction that caused the Mazda utility to jack-knife across the southbound lane into the path of the deceased's vehicle. The head-on collision with the utility's side resulted in severe head, chest, and limb injuries. The coroner found the death arose by way of accident. No clinical care was involved in this fatal incident.
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Contributing factors
Unsafe overtaking manoeuvre by Nissan truck driver
Initial contact between truck step and horse float rear wheel arch
Chain reaction jack-knifing of towing vehicle across oncoming traffic
Closure of gap between vehicles during overtake attempt
Driver misjudgement of clearance and oncoming vehicle distance
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