Coroner advises duty holders on blind spots, in inquest

(Article from OHS Alert 20/9/2023)

A coroner has expressed his "fervent hope" that companies and heavy vehicle drivers will cease the common dangerous practice of placing modified window shades on windscreens, in his inquest into the blind-spot-related death of a worker in a parking area.

Darren Ross Twine, 52, was run over by a prime mover whose pre-existing blind spot (for drivers) directly in front of the cabin was "significantly extended" by a modified foil window shade positioned at the bottom of the windscreen, Western Australian Coroner Philip Urquhart found.

In July 2020, Twine and his 25-year-old truck driving colleague Cody Robinson – both employed by Norwest Crane Hire – were working together in the State's Pilbara region when they finished a shift and drove their prime movers to a Port Hedland tavern, where they stayed for about 40 minutes and consumed alcohol.

They then drove to a nearby roadhouse to use the shower facilities and buy takeaway food.

When Twine left the roadhouse, he stepped in front of Robinson's truck on the passenger side as Robinson started driving the vehicle. The truck struck and ran over Twine, inflicting fatal head and body injuries.

The inquest, conducted at the request of Twine's partner of 33 years, heard Robinson initially drove away from the scene and rang his mother in a "frantic" state, saying he believed he might have just killed somebody.

He quickly returned to the roadhouse and was interviewed by police, who found his blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit.

The police investigation found the foil shade on Robinson's windscreen had been cut and fitted in a way that blocked the bottom 30 centimetres of the window.

Without the shade in place, a 178-centimetre-tall object, for example, was not visible in front of the vehicle by a 185-centimetre-tall seated driver until the object was about 1.3 metres ahead of the vehicle, the police investigation found.

With the modified shade fitted between the dash and the windscreen, the driver could not see the object until it was approximately 3.5 metres ahead of the vehicle, it found.

Robinson was eventually charged with and pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol limit and driving "while not having a full and uninterrupted view", in breach of the Western Australian Road Traffic Code 2000.

He was fined a total of $250 and had his licence disqualified for three months.

WorkSafe WA also investigated the incident and, earlier this year, released a significant incident summary warning of the risks of installing non-original sun visors in work vehicles, and featuring photographs of the foil shade in Robinson's truck.

As reported by OHS Alert at the time, WorkSafe said its ongoing enquiries into Twine's death found modified shades that increased drivers' blind spots were widely used in heavy vehicles operating on public roads in Western Australia (see related article).

The Coroner said he was satisfied that Robinson "could not have reasonably anticipated that Mr Twine was in front of his prime mover when he commenced to drive from the truck parking area".

He said it was unclear why Twine, who was known to be a "safety conscious" worker, positioned himself in front of Robinson's truck when it was about to drive forward, but heard one possible explanation was that he was looking at a faulty indicator on the truck.

The Coroner went on to find that the "window shade that Mr Robinson had positioned at the bottom of his prime mover's windscreen significantly extended the area in front of the prime mover that could not be seen by a person sitting in the driver's seat".

He said he was unable to determine whether the shade was a contributing factor to Twine's death, but stressed that it was his "fervent hope that the dangerous practice of heavy vehicle operators using modified foil window shades at the bottom of their windscreens (particularly in cabover vehicles) will cease".

"Given the efforts by WorkSafe to alert these operators to this dangerous practice, I have not felt it necessary to make any recommendation with respect to this matter," he noted.